The palliative APRN leader

Abstract

Advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs) are leaders in clinical practice, systems-level care delivery, nursing practice, and policy. The challenge is that in the current environment, their leadership is not highlighted. With the national shortage of palliative care clinicians, APRN leaders will be necessary to care for all the patients and their families with serious illness. While many programs describe their APRNs as leader in clinical care, there is not much written about their leadership in other areas. This paper provides a description of APRN palliative care leadership and opportunities across all domains of clinical care, education, advocacy/policy, research, and administration/management.

Keywords: Palliative care; administration/management; advanced practice registered nurse (APRN); clinical practice; education; leadership; policy/advocacy; research.