Health care professionals who have made the decision to specialize in oncology face a unique set of challenges. Issues such as quality of life and symptom management regularly impact standard of care concerns. City of Hope’s Division of Nursing Research and Education offers several specialized education programs:
Advocating for Clinical Excellence (ACE) Project
Individuals facing a serious illness require competent and compassionate care, with patients confronting a complex interplay of physical, psychological, social, spiritual, existential, medical, financial and social burdens. However, evidence indicates that few health-care providers are adequately prepared for this critical task. The ACE Project is an innovative psycho-oncology educational initiative which aims to change this. The ACE Project is designed to improve palliative care on a multidisciplinary basis through an intensive advocacy and leadership training programs for psychologists, social workers and spiritual care professionals.
End of Life Nursing Education Consortium (ELNEC)
ELNEC is a national education initiative to improve end-of-life care in the United States. The Project provides undergraduate and graduate nursing faculty, CE providers, staff development educatiors, specialty nurses in pediatrics, oncology, critical care and geriatrics and other nurses with training in end-of-life care so they can teach this essential information to nursing students and practicing nurses. ELNEC trainings are held multiple times each year in locations across the country.
Evidence Based Nursing Practice Fellowship
EBN, funded by UniHealth, is a 3 year project to teach nurses a collaborative approach in evaluating evidence from diverse sources, allowing translation, transfer and use of best available evidence in nursing practice. Each RN or team will identify and implement unit projects which will be supported, for the following nine months by the EBN project office. In years one and two, fellows will be from City of Hope; in the third year, area-wide hospitals in southern California will be incorporated in the fellowship.
Survivorship Education for Quality Cancer Care
The growing population of cancer survivors is a testament to the work of City of Hope and other treatment innovators. However, the cancer survivor faces a multitude of concerns such as recurrence, secondary tumors and other physical and psychosocial issues. The conference focuses on physical, psychological, social and spiritual aspects of well-being. This three-day conference provides survivorship education to competitively chosen multidisciplinary teams from cancer centers across the country.
Southern California Cancer Pain Initiative (SCCPI)
SCCPI is a nonprofit volunteer interdisciplinary organization made up of physicians, nurses, pharmacists, social workers and many other professionals dedicated to the relief of cancer pain. Three newsletters as well as various announcements are sent to the 3,000 SCCPI members every year. SCCPI also offers the following professional courses:
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The primary purpose of this course is to prepare individual nurses in a comprehensive training program related to assessment and treatment of pain.
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The purpose of this course is to promote excellence in pain management and palliative care by developing the core skills necessary for social work professionals.