Publications for Nursing Assistants

The care provided by nursing assistants (i.e., hospice aides, home health aides, etc.) for the patient and family is a vital component of palliative care, which includes hospice. In providing palliative care to patients with serious or life threatening illness and their families, nursing assistants are on their journey with them. In many settings, nursing assistants spend more time with patients than any other healthcare worker, which gives them the opportunity to get to know patients and families better than other healthcare workers do. The purpose of the second edition of the Core Curriculum for the Hospice and Palliative Nursing Assistant is not to teach the tasks that nursing assistants do, but rather to help nursing assistants lessen the suffering of patients and their families and to improve quality of life.