Hospice Ceus

This CEU course by the National Institute on Aging is a thoughtful collection of facts, suggestions and guidelines for caregivers of people facing death. Equally informative for family members and professional health care givers, many end-of-life and p...

This course by the National Institute on Aging is a thoughtful collection of facts, suggestions and guidelines for caregivers of people facing death. Equally informative for family members and professional health care givers, many end...

This course focuses on guiding leaders in end-of-life and palliative care regarding the trends within the published scientific literature and the sources of private- and public-sector support for this research. The purpose of this course is to present...

NAB Program Approval Number: 20211022-1.50-A68837-DL

This CEU course by the National Institute on Aging is a thoughtful collection of facts, suggestions and guidelines for caregivers of people facing death. Equally informative for family members ...

Ethical decision-making in healthcare occurs on a regular basis, often without so much as a passing thought. Healthcare professionals are held to high standards of moral character and an expectation to be patient advocates. This innate drive to do &ldq...

Virtually all healthcare professionals help patients who are experiencing pain; physicians, nurses, therapists, psychologists, pharmacists, respiratory therapists, radiologic technologists, and social workers each play a specific role in pain managemen...

Weight loss does not have to be dramatic to be beneficial, just a 5% weight loss can have a profound impact on health. But do primary care providers know how to deliver obesity counseling? Do they know what works to achieve and maintain the 5% weight l...

Up to 14% of patients with metastases will develop a malignant wound. A malignant wound may result from a primary cutaneous malignancy or metastasis of existing cancer or be a malignant transformation of an existing wound. Malignant transformation of a...

Team-based healthcare is provided by two or more people who represent different professions with the common goal of improving the well-being of a patient. Outcomes such as relief of pain, improved access to healthcare services, early recognition of tre...

Medication reconciliation is a comprehensive review of a patient’s active medications during care transitions. It is a strategy that enables healthcare providers to make better prescribing decisions for patients. The Joint Commission (TJC) added ...

Oncology emergencies are dangerous complications resulting from cancer. Conditions covered in this course include the more common emergencies, such as sepsis and tumor lysis syndrome, with mention of more rare conditions, such as superior vena cava syn...

The goal of this course is to provide up-to-date information to nurses about the signs and symptoms of shingles, treatment moalities, interventions, and patient education issues.   After taking this course, you should be able to: Identify the...

Diabetes mellitus can cause serious lower extremity complications that threaten life and limb. Peripheral neuropathy and vascular disease can lead to ulcers, arthropathy, and infections that cause pain, impair mobility, and may even lead to amputation....

Nurses and social workers interact with families. Often patients are unable or unwilling to share information practitioners need to deliver quality care. Family members can be a good source of data. Nurses can provide them all with enhanced communicati...

Nursing competency develops over time — the product of lessons learned from wide-ranging experiences. As the profession evolves, competency in a rapidly changing healthcare environment remains a key component of excellent nursing care. Competency...

Patients with chronic, progressive pulmonary diseases are a challenging patient population, as they often present with unrelieved symptoms that affect their quality of life. Palliative care is no longer considered end-of-life care. This comprehensive c...

Sight is a precious gift. Yet, many Americans find their sight threatened by age-related macular degeneration and glaucoma. Nurses have a responsibility to their patients to provide resources that can help reduce the prevalence of these conditions in o...

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) was once primarily associated with the survivors of war but is now recognized as affecting people who have experienced diverse types of psychological traumas. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs National Center...

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is the most commonly diagnosed GI disorder in the United States. It can limit activities of daily living, productivity, socialization, and travel, significantly decreasing quality of life. It is well accepted that food pl...

The use of hospice and palliative care services continues to grow in the U.S. However, confusion about what the programs offer remains. This educational activity compares services and reimbursement for hospice and palliative care programs. Nurses shoul...

About a quarter of a million hospitalized patients receive enteral feedings annually (Boullata et al., 2017) and an estimated 344,000 U.S. patients receive their nutrition via a tube at home (Ireton-Jones, n.d.). Patients with long-term feeding tubes, ...

Much of the literature indicates that although most people, given the choice, would prefer to die at home, many will die in institutions. Caring for a patient approaching the end of life continues to challenge the most skilled, educated, and talented p...

Latinos are the largest, most rapid-growing, and youngest minority group in the U.S. The rapid growth and diversity of this population relative to other minority groups are causes for examination of the impact of cancer on Latinos in the U.S. Cancer is...

This course is designed to help the practicing case manager develop the knowledge to reach an expert level of practice. It offers insight into what is needed to become an expert-level, high-functioning case manager. The purpose of this course is to pro...

Compassion fatigue (CF) occurs when a caregiver experiences what experts call "secondary traumatic stress" in reaction to caring for those who are themselves suffering from traumatic events. Although caregivers don't actually experience the e...

Meditation training has proven to be an effective adjunct therapy for many conditions and can be discussed as an option among healthcare providers. Healthcare programs are incorporating meditation into many clinical practices. Relaxation and meditation...

Islam is the second-largest and fastest-growing religion in the world. Followers of Islam are known as Muslims or Moslems. It’s also acceptable to refer to followers as “Islamic.” Muslim traditions can impact health-related perception...

More than two decades ago, the Patient Self-Determination Act promised more patient involvement in end-of-life treatment decisions. Unfortunately, studies have shown that current forms of advance directives have not resulted in healthcare providers' co...

Over the course of history in the United States multiple public health programs have been initiated. However, the predominance of quality, coverage, and affordability issues are emerged more strongly in the 21th century. Health policy is an increasingl...

The Institute of Medicine estimates that about 100 million U.S. adults live with common chronic pain conditions. Nerve injury and even psychological factors can alter how a person experiences pain. Unmanaged chronic pain has significant and far-reachin...

This course has been approved for 2 hours by the Commission on Case Manager Certification for 03/01/2016 to 03/01/2019.

About one in five Medicare beneficiaries discharged from the hospital is readmitted within 30 days of discharge at a cost of $...

According to an American Heart Association and American College of Cardiology guideline, heart failure is defined as “a complex clinical syndrome that results from any structural or functional impairment of ventricular filling or ejection of bloo...

The likelihood that a brownie with nuts could be good for your heart seems counterintuitive. However, evidence suggests that both cocoa and tree nuts can indeed help prevent coronary heart disease (CHD), which is the leading cause of death in the Unite...

Use of the interprofessional team approach has led to improved outcomes in some patient populations and disease states. Many different models exist and all can be adapted to fit specific population needs. As healthcare reimbursement continues to evolve...

For many postoperative patients, patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) is the primary source for managing pain. The basic design of PCA includes a computerized pump that can deliver several medications, such as morphine, hydromorphone or fentanyl, accordi...

Course Title: Hospice and Palliative Nursing (CHPN®)

Course Description: Hospice and palliative nursing requires not only caring for patients with progressive illnesses but providing caregiver support. Earn certification to ensure you are wel...

Nursing home surveys aim to ensure that nursing homes meet national standards of care. The process is detailed in federal regulations. This module provides an overview of the survey process and explains why facilities receive the scores they do. It off...

Nurses deliver IV therapy to millions of patients in a variety of settings every year. IV therapy and vascular access devices have become so common in nursing care that it’s easy to forget that serious, sometimes life-threatening complications ca...

Today's healthcare workforce is a lively mix of generations. Today's workforce is retiring later, and we now have five distinct generations working together: Veterans (born 1922 to 1946); baby boomers (born 1946 to 1964); and Generations (Gen) X( born ...

Dying in America continues to be misrepresented and misunderstood. Most people say they would like to die at home, and hospice care can make that wish a reality. This course describes the history of hospice as a social construct in the world at large a...

Healthcare professionals have an important role in helping patients and families formulate advance directives. Despite intensive efforts, most Americans don't have an AD and may face a life-threatening illness without a plan to guide their healthcare p...

Hypertension has been called the silent killer because it causes no symptoms in most people until complications develop in its late stages. The natural history of hypertension is that of insidious onset, a clinically asymptomatic course often for a dec...

As the largest healthcare profession in the U.S. and the profession positioned on the front line of patient care, nurses are crucial for leading change and advancing health. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Institute of Medicine made recommen...

Conflict is part of every work environment, including healthcare organizations. In the past, conflict in the workplace was regarded as dysfunctional, representing a breakdown in communication that would either go away by itself or be resolved with some...

According to the Alzheimer’s Association, as many as 5.4 million Americans are living with Alzheimer’s disease, including an estimated 200,000 under the age of 65; by 2050, up to 16 million will have the disease. Earlier recognition and for...

Nurses and physicians are confronted daily with the responsibility to care for hospitalized children in pain. Nurses observe the patient 24 hours a day and thus become the pivotal group of healthcare professionals involved in the process of proper asse...

The increased emphasis on pain management to improve quality of life and functionality of people with chronic pain has contributed to a significant increase in the number of opioid prescriptions being written. With increased availability of prescriptio...

This module will inform healthcare professionals about types of reframing used by healthcare professions to help patients look at things differently and the ways in which reframing can prove useful while working with patients and colleagues. Healthcare...

Healthcare workers consistently rank among professions with the most days away from work because of injuries with back sprains and strains. Understanding that low-back pain can be the result of multiple factors and knowing when to use conservative vers...

Healthcare professionals are responsible for monitoring the performance of all personnel who are under their authority, licensed or not, about infection control techniques. Failure to adhere to these principles is considered unprofessional conduct and ...

Despite the availability of effective pharmacologic therapies for treatment of osteoporosis, many patients prefer to augment or substitute traditional treatments with nontraditional alternative therapies. Patients who choose alternative therapies may b...

This course has been approved for 2 hours by the Commission on Case Manager Certification for 2017 and 2018.

Accreditation standards mandate the evaluation of patient understanding of teaching they receive during encounters with healthcare provid...

Clinical, or major, depression is a significant chronic disease worldwide. The World Health Organization identifies depression as the leading cause of disability worldwide and estimates more than 300 million people suffer from depression and almost 800...

Between 2011 and 2015, there was a 5% decline in the number of new HIV infections annually, with an estimated 38,500 new infections in 2015. Of the more than 1 million people in the U.S. infected with HIV, almost 15% are unaware of their infection. New...

Sexual harassment is a form of sex discrimination that constitutes an unlawful employment practice in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. This statute prohibits employment-based discrimination on the grounds of race, color, religion...

Population health takes a broad view that looks beyond a group of patients or clients in a practice setting and considers a group of people in a similar geographical area or those with a similar disease or health need. It is described as a bridge betwe...

Healthcare providers must communicate effectively with limited English-proficient (LEP) patients for safety and quality of care. Compliance with government regulations, accreditation standards, and evidence-based care is necessary. Based on 2010 U.S. C...

This course will examine the reasons for healthcare disparities among ethnic and racial minorities, the ways in which both the cultural backgrounds of patients and their clinicians can negatively impact patients’ mental health outcomes, and what ...

Disparities in the prevalence, management, progression, and outcomes of pain-related conditions are widely recognized. Generally, minorities report greater pain, disability, and suffering when compared to whites, with influential sociocultural factors ...

The U.S. is becoming more culturally diverse than ever, but the nursing workforce continues to be largely non-Hispanic white. Differences among staff can create problems in communication and lead to conflicts that affect how the team works together. Le...

Multidisciplinary, interprofessional, and transdisciplinary team designations, often used interchangeably, refer to disciplines grouped according to patient care responsibilities that operate with varying degrees of interaction among team members. An i...

This course has been approved for 2 hours by the Commission on Case Manager Certification for 2014 and 2015.

16.2 million adults reported depression episodes in 2016. The prevalence of depression was highest among adults ages 18 to 25 years. Amon...

Year after year, Gallup polls reveal that the public has a high level of trust in nurses. However, the public has little understanding of what nurses do and doesn't think of them as key players in healthcare. This is particularly true when faced with n...

By applying evidence-based strategies, nurses can help reduce pain during minor pediatric patient procedures. Nurses must assess the level of pain and understand the barriers to and the options available for effective pain management in pediatric patie...

Age-related change, years of wear and tear, inadequate care, use of poorly fitting footwear, increased weight and body mass index, and the prevalence of medical conditions that affect the feet may result in disability, decreased mobility, diminished fu...

Delirium is a medical condition manifested as a disturbance in consciousness and cognition that occurs for a short time. Causes of delirium vary, but most cases are seen in hospitals. Postoperative delirium is associated with longer hospital stays, inc...

Sexual health and sexuality have received significant attention in the last decade across the spectrum of human-service providers. In spite of increasing awareness of the importance of sex, gender identity, and sexuality in all aspects of health, barri...

The Health and Medicine Division’s (HMD) (formerly the Institute of Medicine) Healthy People 2020 and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality have highlighted the health disparities affecting LGBTQ populations. As evidence of health-illnes...

According to the Hearing Loss Association of America, about 20 percent of Americans (48 million), report some degree of hearing loss. This educational activity will address routine screening, appropriate assessment, and management options related to he...

Hospice patients experience pain across multiple domains. Clinicians who care for hospice patients and their families need to be knowledgeable about the appropriate assessment and management of suffering in those experiencing serious life-limiting illn...

Latex hypersensitivity was characterized as a problem in the late 1970s and increased throughout the 1980s and 1990s. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) declared it a serious concern after reports of multiple deaths and over 1,000 documented r...

It is estimated that more than 228,150 new cases of lung cancer will be diagnosed in 2019. Lung cancer remains the leading cause of cancer deaths, with more people expected to die from lung cancer in 2019 than from breast, prostate, and colon cancers c...

In 2019, an estimated 5.8 million Americans were living with Alzheimer’s disease. 5.6 million were older than age 65, and about 200,000 younger individuals had early-onset Alzheimer’s. An increasingly older population is expected to add to ...

A patient-centered team approach can significantly improve the quality, accessibility, and affordability of care delivered to cancer patients. Patient navigation in cancer care is generally considered to be individualized assistance offered to patients...

This continuing education course will develop healthcare providers’ knowledge of diabetic neuropathy and treatment options. Learners will be exposed to background information on the disease state including definitions, classification, etiology, p...

This course has been approved for 2 hours by the Commission on Case Manager Certification for 2018.

Chronic ulcers have significant effects on patients’ physical and mental health, finances, and overall quality of life. The successful heali...

Chronic conditions — particularly heart disease, stroke, diabetes, lung disease, obesity, and arthritis — are creating a significant burden on our healthcare system, and the problem continues to increase. Healthcare professionals witness fi...

Noninvasive positive pressure ventilation (NPPV) provides an exciting alternative to invasive methods of managing ventilation. Used in appropriate patients, NPPV provides advantages for patients versus endotracheal intubation. NPPV can also be used as ...

A patient-centered medical home (PCMH) is an approach to healthcare delivery, not a place. A patient-centered medical home is a redesigned practice that has shifted from focusing on “episodic treatment of disease” to the holi...

Ethical theory provides a framework within which nurses can assess the acceptability of actions and the morality of judgments. This program informs nurses about the key terms, theories and principles found in bioethics to help ensure ethically sound de...

Nursing is a moral profession. Nurses are charged to do good for their patients and avoid harm. But technological advances in healthcare require that nurses expand their instinctive understanding of ethics into one of reasoned and deliberate knowledge....

This program provides nurses with information about ethics committees, including procedures, functions and roles of members. It also describes ways to carry out an ethics consultation.

The principle of well-being, or beneficence, doing good and preventing harm, obliges the nurse to promote the health and safety of patients in decisions made by and for them. The principle of equity, or justice, requires that patients be treated fairly...

The principles of beneficence, justice, nonmaleficence and respect for autonomy can help nurses as they continue to advocate for the self-determination and well-being of their patients. This module defines the dilemmas and explains the arguments on dif...

According to data from the Wisconsin Sleep Cohort study, approximately 34% of men and 17% of women have obstructive sleep apnea in the United States. Four to fifty percent of adults, worldwide, have diagnosable obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and many of...

Polypharmacy, the concurrent use of several drugs, increases the risk of adverse drug reactions and interactions in older adults. Besides adverse drug reactions and drug-drug interactions, other clinical consequences of polypharmacy include nonadherenc...

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs National Center for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) indicates that at some point in their lives, 7% to 8% of the U.S. population will suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder, although more than half will...

Most people take prescribed medications properly, but many obtain drugs fraudulently, use medications that are not prescribed to them, or use more than prescribed or take them for reasons other than medically indicated. The nonmedical use of prescripti...

Suicide is a public health concern, and risks are often overlooked in elderly patients. While in recent years there has been a shift to higher suicide rates in middle age, there is still concern regarding suicide risk in older adults, especially males....

This course has been approved for 4 hours by the Commission on Case Manager Certification for 2008, 2/12/09 through 12/31/09, 1/15/10 through 12/31/10, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018.

Arthritic disorders are chronic diseases t...

Nurses have an obligation to keep abreast of current issues related to the regulation of the practice of nursing not only in their respective states but also across the nation, especially when their nursing practice crosses state borders. Because the p...

Falls are a serious health risk for older people, and a fall is a life-changing event that can lead to disability, loss of independence, or even death. About 28.7% of adults aged 65 and older fall every year. Healthcare professionals of various discipl...

The effect of caregiving on the health and financial well-being of family caregivers is significant. U.S. companies experience billions of dollars in lost productivity as a result of family caregiving’s effect on their employees. Nurses and other...

As the population of “Baby Boomers” ages, the number of older adults in the United States will increase significantly. By 2035, for the first time in history, there will be more people in the US age 60 and older than age 18 and under. Surve...

The number of older drivers is increasing. There were 40 million licensed drivers aged 65 and older in 2015, a 33% increase from 10 years earlier. In contrast, the total number of licensed drivers in the United States increased by only 8% between 2006 ...

A stress response causes specific biological changes, such as increased heart rate, bronchodilation, horripilation (goose bumps), increased blood pressure, increased sweat production, decreased immune response, decreased insulin, and increased blood gl...

Children's pain is undertreated for a number of complex and interrelated reasons. These include professionals’ misconceptions about pain and pain management and the complexity of pain assessment (particularly in nonverbal children). Additionally,...

Mentoring is not new to nursing; however, nurses often confuse mentoring with other career development relationships, such as coaching, precepting, or peer strategizing. Because of this lack of clarity in the literature, nurses need to understand the d...

Dyspnea is a distressing symptom that has been described since ancient times, but only recently has it been comprehensively assessed and managed across disease states. The sensation of dyspnea results from interactions among multiple physiological, psy...

Objectives:

Define terminology related to end-of-life care, death, and dying; review theories of grief; the five stages of grief; and compare the different types of grief.Describe the signs and symptoms of grief and discuss the distinction betwee...

Upon completion of this module, the learner will be able to:

Define palliative care, end of life care, and hospice care, and list the four domains of care at the end-of-life.Define ethics as a discipline and describe the ethical principles of aut...

By the completion of this module, the learner should be able to:

Define the distinguishing features of palliative care, compare and contrast to hospice care and end-of-life (EOL) care, and describe models of palliative care delivery.Discuss the e...

Objectives

By the completion of this module, the learner should be able to:

Define the distinguishing features of palliative care, compare and contrast to hospice care and end-of-life (EOL) care, and describe models of palliative care deliv...

This peer reviewed course is applicable for the following professions: Advanced Registered Nurse Practitioner (ARNP), Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA), Clinical Nurse Specialist (CNS), Home Health Aid (HHA), Licensed Nursing Assistant (LNA), Licensed...

Human comfort, dignity and a sense of peace are the ideal outcomes of both palliative and hospice care, but it is important to recognize that the two types of end-of-life care are very different. Palliative care focuses on providing patients with serio...