Updated palliative care competencies for entry-to-practice and advanced-level nursing students: New resources for nursing faculty

American Association of Colleges of Nursing's Essentials: Core Concepts for Professional Nursing Education (2021) established four spheres of care across the lifespan with diverse populations, one of which is hospice/palliative/supportive care. A team of palliative nursing leaders and nurse educators sought to evaluate alignment of the new Essentials with existing palliative care competency statements. The rigorous process resulted in the revision of these palliative care competency statements to align with the new Essentials more accurately. The second edition of the Competencies And Recommendations for Educating nursing Students (CARES) reflect updated palliative care expectations for entry-to-practice nursing students. Similarly, second edition Graduate Competencies And Recommendations for Educating nursing Students (G-CARES) statements describe advanced-level student competency. The team also aligned CARES/G-CARES (2nd ed.) with the Domains, Competencies, Sub-Competencies, and Concepts of the new Essentials. The updated palliative care competency statements can guide faculty in integrating palliative care education into their programs and assessing alignment of programmatic outcomes with AACN's Essentials hospice/palliative/supportive care sphere of care.