Literature Review

Remembering the Holocaust with little-known story about a Jewish refugee and Cicely Saunders: Honoring the International Holocaust Remembrance Day - 80th Anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz

Husband with Parkinson's was admitted into at-home hospice program and has dramatically improved. Have others experienced this? Aging Care; by Klwolf; 1/21/26 My DH has Parkinson’s that has been getting progressively worse for months. In early December we had him assessed for hospice and he was admitted. Since then, he’s improved dramatically. Has anyone else experienced dramatic improvement AFTER hospice enrollment? The hospice staff simply shrugs and says this sometimes happens and that we need to be prepared for him to revert back to his previous state. Editor's Note: Many clinicians have seen individuals improve after hospice enrollment, often due to better symptom control, reduced stress, or consistent interdisciplinary care. The concern here is not the improvement itself, but the hospice team’s reported response. A shrug can feel dismissive to families already living with uncertainty. How do we teach teams to communicate about improvement—honoring hope while preparing families with clarity, compassion, and trust?

Video conversation aids to assist in goals-of-care discussions with older adults in a medical setting: A systematic reviewAmerican Journal of Hospice & Palliative Care; Ashna S Karpe, Mokunfayo O Fajemisin, Stephanie Martinez Ugarte, Lara Ouellette, Martin L Blakely, Gina H Khraish, Shreyans V Sanghvi, Min J Kwak, Jessica L Lee, Lillian S Kao, Thaddeus J Puzio; 12/25Goals-of-care (GOC) discussions align medical treatment with older adults' preferences, yet are hindered by communication barriers, provider discomfort, and misinformation. Video-based decision aids improve understanding and reduce decision conflict, though data on their use in older populations remain limited. Video variability and differences in measured outcomes limited comparisons and generalizability. Video-based decision aids show promise for improving knowledge and aligning treatment preferences. Further studies are needed to investigate the impact of video-based decision aids on GOC conversations in older adults in acute care settings.

Sound of silence: Training physicians to avoid interrupting the diagnosis Medscape; by Donavyn Coffey; 1/21/26 When Anthony Back, MD, a palliative care specialist at the University of Washington in Seattle, takes medical trainees on his rounds, they often come out of the exam room with the same observation: “You didn’t say anything.” Back is among a growing number of physicians who practices silence with his patients, intentionally giving them more time to share and process before he chimes in, and teaching the next generation of doctors to do the same.  ... Emerging evidence and educator experience suggest that silence is not an absence of skill but a deliberate diagnostic and relational tool.

New voices, shared vision: How emerging research scholars are supporting HPNA's research prioritiesJournal of Hospice & Palliative Nursing; by Jyotsana Parajuli, Kristin Levoy, Avery C Bechthold, Lyndsay Degroot, C Robert Bennett, Shena Gazaway, Heather Coats; 12/25Evidence-based practice is critical to providing high-quality hospice and palliative nursing care. Professional organizations, such as the Hospice and Palliative Nurses Association (HPNA), play a critical role in shaping the future of the hospice and palliative nursing field by identifying gaps in the science and fostering collaborative research efforts to inform evidence-based practices. One such driver is the tri-annual HPNA Research Agenda, which outlines key research priorities in hospice and palliative nursing, ultimately aiming to accelerate translation of research into practice and practice improvements. In this article, 6 emerging research scholars in the field and present and former co-chairs of the HPNA Emerging Research Scholar Special Interest Group reflect on the experiences that led them to pursue research careers in hospice and palliative nursing. Through a process of collective self-assessment, these scholars articulated their shared progress toward addressing the research priorities outlined in the 2023-2026 HPNA Research Agenda as a means of generating insights to direct future research efforts in the field.

Phoenix medical students using AI to help them navigate difficult diagnoses or patient discussions NBC News 12, Phoenix, AZ; by Troy Lynch; 1/12/26 For nursing students, delivering a life-altering diagnosis or navigating end-of-life discussions can be more daunting than any clinical procedure. At Creighton University’s Health Sciences Phoenix campus, students are now turning to artificial intelligence to bridge that emotional gap. Launched in the fall of 2024, Creighton faculty and computer science students developed a specialized AI chatbot designed to help nursing students practice "soft skills" in a low-stakes environment. Unlike general-purpose AI, this program is custom-coded to simulate patient interactions and provide immediate, nuanced feedback on empathy and professional tone.

No time like the present: End-of-life simulation in the first semester of a 12-month accelerated baccalaureate nursing programJournal of Hospice & Palliative Nursing; by Alexander T Wolf, Karen L Hunt, Maura D Penfield; 12/25Accelerated nursing programs face unique challenges in incorporating palliative care. This report describes a high-fidelity home hospice simulation developed for first-semester students in a 12-month accelerated baccalaureate nursing program in the northeastern United States. The simulation integrated foundational nursing skills with palliative care competencies. Thematic analysis of student reflections revealed 5 emerging themes: pain management, empathy, family involvement, communication, and knowledge and preparation. Despite challenges in creating a realistic home environment, the simulation provided valuable hands-on experience in palliative care, demonstrating the potential for early curricular integration of these crucial skills.

“Can We Talk?” A community-based training to improve serious illness communication Home Healthcare Now; by Ashley Kaminski Petkis, DNP, APRN, AGACNP-BC and Eric Hackenson, DPT; Jan/Feb 2026 Serious illness conversations (SICs) are often delayed or avoided in community-based healthcare due to clinician discomfort and lack of training. Given that many patients wish to die at home, yet often do not, there is a need for structured communication training in home care and hospice settings to ensure the care we provide aligns with patient and family preferences. ...  By embedding SIC training within a community-based organization, this work demonstrated how modest interventions can catalyze a change in practice, reinforcing the idea that SICs are a standard of quality care rather than an optional enhancement.

Teaching primary palliative nursing care: A model of competency-based educationJournal of Professional Nursing; by Hannah Murphy Buc, Melissa McClean, Janet Armstead Wulf; Jan-Feb 2026Holistic care models such as primary palliative care offer individuals a coordinated, interprofessional and compassionate approach in any healthcare setting regardless of condition. Currently, palliative and end-of-life nursing care content is either threaded throughout nursing curricula or not included at all. This article documents the development of a required primary palliative care course in a baccalaureate nursing program and shares recommendations on competency-based teaching and evaluation methods to encourage implementation in other academic nursing settings. Course evaluations indicate that the class was well received and valuable to students' learning experience.

Hospice and palliative medicine fellows' perspectives on physician-assisted dying education: Hospice and palliative medicine fellows' perspectives on physician-assisted dyingJournal of Pain and Symptom Management; by James Cescon, Antoinette Esce, Melanie Koren, Edith Meyerson, Mollie A Biewald, Robert M Arnold, Anup Bharani, Laura Belland; 11/25Physician-Assisted Dying (PAD) is legal in a growing number of U.S. states, with access expanding nationally due to recent legislative changes. An anonymous nine-item survey was sent to all HPM fellows (N=21) at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. All respondents agreed that learning about PAD in fellowship is important. Topics of interest included ethical considerations (95%), legal criteria (86%), responding to requests in serious illness conversations (86%), navigating requests (76%), and pharmacology/modes of ingestion (71%). While only 10% intended to provide PAD in future practice, 57% were unsure or had not thought about it, and 33% were not considering it. These findings underscore a clear educational need and may guide curriculum development.