Developing, Promoting, and Sustaining Palliative Care Across Central Eastern Europe: Educating Nurses to Be Leaders Is a Critical First Step.

ABSTRACT

Worldwide, health care is becoming more complex and multifaceted. Nurses, who spend more time at the bedside or out in the community with patients and their families than any other health care professional, need leadership-building skills in order to navigate these challenging times. New guidelines focus on interprofessional and holistic care, emphasizing the importance of building leadership skills and abilities. The World Health Organization and the European Association for Palliative Care have shown interest in influencing the development and implementation of palliative care services globally, given the increasingly aging population, the growing incidence of cancer, and the human immunodeficiency virus/AIDS epidemic. Despite challenges in developing leadership skills in nurses throughout Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), visionary nursing leaders throughout these countries have taken the opportunity to develop the Transformational Palliative Nursing Leadership Program, which has been designed to improve the leadership abilities of palliative care nurses throughout CEE countries. The purpose of the Transformational Palliative Nursing Leadership Program education is to equip palliative care nurses with the ability to promote, develop, and sustain this specialized care in CEE countries or any other part of the world.