ABERDEEN, S.D.?– Dr. Shelby Boettner, DNP, RN, assistant professor of nursing at Northern State University, recently co-authored a study in the?Journal of Hospice & Palliative Nursing?focused on how faculty experience shapes nursing student preparedness in primary palliative care.

The multi-university study, which included four Midwestern institutions, examined how nursing faculty teach palliative care and how prepared they feel to guide students in this area. The findings point to progress in palliative care education, while also identifying ongoing challenges, including limited faculty preparation and continued confusion between palliative care and hospice.

The research emphasizes the importance of faculty development and stronger curriculum integration to help nursing programs better prepare students for practice, especially in rural communities where specialty palliative care services may be less accessible.

“Preparing nurses to deliver primary palliative care begins with preparing the faculty who teach them. Primary palliative care focuses on improving quality of life for patients and families throughout serious illness, and this study underscores how important it is to connect classroom learning with the real-world experience of caring for these patients.”

The study was initiated during Dr. Boettner’s time at Presentation College and brought to publication while she was serving as faculty at Northern State University.

Readers can access the study online at https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41364212/.

For more information, contact Dr. Shelby Boettner, Assistant Professor of Nursing, at 605-380-3003 or shelby.boettner@northern.edu.