Palliative Care Program
Ursuline College
The Breen School of Nursing
Pepper Pike, Ohio
Denice Kopcha Sheehan, RN, MSN
Denice Sheehan, a clinical nurse specialist,
coordinates the palliative care track in the
master of science in nursing program at The
Breen School of Nursing at Ursuline College in
Pepper Pike, Ohio. This graduate program is the
first in the United States to prepare clinical
nurse specialists in palliative care. The first
course was offered during the summer of 1997.
Sheehan based the Ursuline program on a national and regional needs survey indicating that palliative care nursing experts supported the need for graduate education in palliative care. This support was echoed by Ursuline College nursing alumnae and Cleveland nursing leaders. The program started with nine students and now enrolls 23 in the palliative care track and postmaster’s certificate program.
Building a Partnership
Sheehan, who has extensive clinical experience
in oncology and hospice, decided that palliative
care needed to be included in the graduate nursing
curriculum. “We needed a partnership among
students, clinical agencies and faculty,” she explains.
Ursuline students learn three ways: classroom work, interaction with experienced nurses and an open-door faculty policy. “These three elements plus reflection and contemplation are the strengths of our program,” Sheehan explains. “Our educational program is based on values. Students learn about themselves first by looking at their own values. Then they are able to listen and learn about patient values and provide care based on patient and family needs.”
Communication is another program focus. Students learn how to talk with someone who is dying. “Over time,” Sheehan says, “they come to see dying as a potentially rich experience and gain perspective on their own beliefs on the meaning of life and their own direction in life.”
Instruction includes lectures from invited experts and reviews of the current literature on best practices. This approach ensures that graduates are familiar with palliative care excellence and are well positioned to contribute to the palliative care body of knowledge. Each of the clinical nurse specialist students also completes a practicum. Many spend hours at the Cleveland Clinic’s Harry R. Horvitz Center for Palliative Medicine where they work with the inpatient and outpatient clinical teams. “They are very involved and part of the interdisciplinary team,” Sheehan explains. Students often spend time at the Hospice of the Western Reserve’s Hospice House where they work with advanced practice palliative care nurses, physicians and other providers. Students also work at a variety of other clinical sites, where they learn from professionals who provide grief and bereavement services.
Graduates in Demand
Student and preceptor evaluations are very
positive. They are used to reinforce the strengths
of the curriculum and seek direction for improvement.
Program graduates are in demand by
clinical agencies and physicians. “More and more
health care professionals nationwide are calling
and asking when we will graduate the next class,”
Sheehan says. “Of the seven nurses who have
graduated so far, four are directly involved in the
provision of palliative care.”
Personal Reflection
Prior to establishing this graduate program,
Sheehan’s research showed that there were no
programs that incorporated palliative care in
Ohio or the nation. “I decided that palliative care
needed to be included in the curriculum and that
it needed to be a partnership between students,
clinical agencies and faculty. The education we
are providing nursing students is paving the way
to improve the ability of medical institutions
and communities to care for people with life
threatening illnesses and their families.”
