Participants from Eswatini, a country in Southern Africa, attending an ELNEC course in February 2025. It was the first palliative care course held in the country. Photos for this article supplied by ELNEC; used with permission.
ELNEC: Founded so that no nurse feels at a loss at the bedside
Imagine being a nurse at the bedside of a patient with serious illness and feeling very unprepared to deliver quality palliative care. Although improving, professional education continues to emphasize technology and curative procedures, with less information presented about the care needed for those with advanced disease. Through the vision of Dr. Betty Ferrell more than 25 years ago, the End-of-Life Nursing Consortium (ELNEC) was established to meet this need.
Palliative Care Nursing Course
IAHPC and ELNEC are collaborating on a palliative care nursing course, free to members, starting on Thursday, July 31, and running weekly until Sept. 4. Watch for an IAHPC Special Announcement with details.
ELNEC’s development
The ELNEC initiative was developed through a collaboration between City of Hope research center and the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN). The original ELNEC curriculum was created through the work of nationally recognized experts (I was fortunate to be one of the original consultants and faculty), focused on the broad needs of nurses practicing within the United States.
The inaugural course (ELNEC Core) in 2000 was highly regarded and, over time, participants requested additional curricula, including geriatrics, pediatrics, advanced practice nursing (both adult and pediatric), oncology advanced practice nursing, communication, and ELNEC For Veterans. With a goal to further integrate palliative care education within nursing undergraduate and graduate programs, online curricula are also available to standardize palliative care nursing education (ELNEC Undergraduate/New Graduate and ELNEC Graduate).
Breadth of training
Graduates of the International ELNEC course held in Salzburg in 2023. At the upcoming EAPC congress in Helsinki, ELNEC has organized a pre-conference workshop free to participants (see below) on May 28. The topic is "Readying for End of Life in Place: Help shape the international classification of dying places."
ELNEC course modules include:
- Nursing Care at the End of Life
- Pain Management
- Symptom Management
- Ethical and Legal Issues
- Cultural and Spiritual Considerations
- Communication
- Loss, Grief, and Bereavement
- Final Hours/Days
Participants are provided with a detailed syllabus with slides, content, case studies, resources, teaching materials and other tools. All courses are “train-the-trainer,” with the intention that participants disseminate the information widely to students, practicing nurses, and other healthcare professionals.
Additional resources include:
- ELNEC website: Includes numerous tools along with a list of ELNEC Trainers to foster collaboration and a Schools of Nursing Faculty Corner to support faculty.
- Publications: Many articles describe the ELNEC Project.
- Newsletter: Trainers receive ELNEC Connections, a quarterly newsletter that shares successful educational strategies.
International expansion
While originally developed to meet the needs of nurses within the United States, many trainers have traveled internationally to provide this education globally. Additionally, international professionals attended ELNEC conferences and sought permission to use and translate the curricula into their languages.
Currently, ELNEC has been translated into 12 languages: Albanian, Armenian, Chinese, Czech, German, Hindi, Hungarian, Japanese, Korean, Romanian, Russian, and Spanish. During International ELNEC courses, often held in under-resourced settings, participants are given additional tools, including links to websites and organizations that provide more information and support. An important example of one such resource is IAHPC, whose vision and mission align perfectly closely with the goals of the ELNEC initiative.
A measurable impact
The impact of ELNEC has been extraordinary. As of January 2025:
- Close to 50,000 nurses and other healthcare professionals have become ELNEC Trainers.
- All 50 US states and 116 international countries have been represented.
- More than 1,228 undergraduate and 434 graduate schools of nursing have accessed the online curricula.
- ELNEC trainers hold professional development seminars where they incorporate ELNEC content into nursing curricula, host regional training sessions, coordinate community partnerships, present ELNEC content at national and international conferences, and improve the quality of nursing care in innovative ways.
- It is estimated that since its inception in 2000, ELNEC has educated more than 1,557,393 nurses and other healthcare professionals.
ELNEC was developed so that no nurse feels lost at the bedside of those with advanced disease. The project has been tremendously successful in advancing palliative care education over its 25-year history and beyond.
Faculty and participants from ELNEC's 2022 course in Salzburg. ELNEC will be returning to Salzburg in 2026 for another edition of its palliative care in nursing course.
IAHPC member Judith Paice continues to be a faculty member of ELNEC. She is a research professor in the Hematology-Oncology Division of Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine, as well as director of the university's Cancer Pain Program.