25 years of progress: ELNEC and AACN transforming palliative nursing education 
Journal of Hospice & Palliative Nursing - JHPN / HPNA; by Cassandra Godzik, PhD, APRN, CNE, Deborah Trautman, PhD, RN, FAAN, Robert Rosseter, MBA, MS, FAAN, Pamela Malloy, MN, RN, FPCN,Jennifer DiBenedetto, PhD, APRN, Polly Mazanec, PhD, AOCN, ACHPN, FPCN, FAAN; 12/25 
In the year 2000, leaders with the American Association of Colleges of Nursing joined with Dr. Betty Ferrell and her colleagues at City of Hope to address gaps in how nurses are educated to care for patients at the end-of-life and their families. ... To date, more than 1.7 million nurses have been educated with the ELNEC curriculum, and more than 1200 undergraduate and 440 graduate schools of nursing offer ELNEC training in palliative end-of-life care. The remarkable academic-practice partnership at the heart of ELNEC has dramatically changed nursing care for patients with serious illnesses and their families in the United States and globally. ... 
Editor's Note: As ELNEC celebrates its 25th anniversary, we honor a leadership legacy that has transformed nursing education and elevated end-of-life care worldwide. What began as a visionary collaboration between AACN and Dr. Betty Ferrell at City of Hope has become a global standard—preparing nurses for clinical excellence, compassionate presence, and interdisciplinary care. With deep appreciation, we celebrate Dr. Betty Ferrell, ELNEC, AACN, City of Hope, and the leaders who continue to champion this vital work forward.

Hospice, heal thyself
Health Affairs; by Ira Byock; 12/18/25
Authentic hospice care is at once highly professional and sophisticated and intimately personal. It can transform patients’ experiences and families’ lives. We must not lose this level of human caring... It is long overdue for the national hospice and palliative care professional and trade associations to issue explicit standards for safe and effective hospice programs and practice. Such standards would define the scope of services offered by hospice programs, delineate necessary administrative and clinical processes applicable to case referrals, evaluation and admission, and clinical assessments. They would specify requirements for staffing, minimum qualifications and training, and elaborate the core roles and responsibilities of each clinician discipline within the hospice interdisciplinary team. In addition, program standards would elucidate corresponding structural and administrative capacities necessary for the team to function successfully and maintain staff well-being.
Publisher's Note: Dr. Byock's article A Strategic Path Forward for Hospice and Palliative Care: A White Paper on the Potential Future of the Field provided a high-level strategic framework. This framework included four components, the first was publishing clear clinical and programmatic standards. This article (Hospice, Heal Thyself) provides practical guidance for doing so, addresses common criticisms of such reforms, and issues a strong call to action for boards and leadership to prioritize quality improvement and ethical practices.

The results are in: Palliative care professionals share how they’re doing in 2025
Center to Advance Palliative Care - CAPC; by Rachael Heitner, MPH; 12/16/25 
CAPC’s second annual Palliative Pulse survey offers insight on how palliative care professionals across the country are feeling this year and what they’re focused on—see how they responded. ... In this blog, we share four key findings from participants’ self-reports and take a closer look at the data behind each one. ...

1. Team morale and emotional well-being are a top concern for the second year in a row ...
2. Clinical skills training is a top priority—for the palliative care team and for colleagues outside of palliative care ...
3. Consult volumes are climbing despite stagnant staffing levels ...
4. Concerns for program sustainability have lessened since 2024, while perceptions of how much palliative care is valued have remained stable ... 

Is moral adequacy possible in the face of structural disadvantage? The experiences of health and social care staff in supporting homeless people using substances at the end of life 
Palliative Care and Social Practice; by Gary Witham https, Gemma Anne Yarwood, Sarah Galvani, Lucy Webb, and Sam Wright; 11/26/25 
Background: Homeless people using substances at the end-of-life face many challenges in accessing and receiving good care. These can relate to poor interdisciplinary working by health and social care practitioners, stigma and structural disadvantage.
Results: The data analysis resulted in three key discourse positions relating to how practitioners position themselves in relation to the practice challenges of supporting homeless people using AODs and approaching end of life. These were as follows: (i) what constitutes a good death and where, (ii) the limitations of professional boundaries and (iii) maintaining moral adequacy in the face of traumatic death.

She has a young hospice patient who can’t financially afford the $2,400 to die 
ChipChick; by Emily Chan; 12/17/25 
Most people worry about how they’ll live, not how much it costs to die. But for TikToker Jordan ..., who is a hospice nurse, one heartbreaking conversation with a young patient exposed a reality that many people don’t want to think about. She has a young patient who is dying and needs to make plans for the end of her life. She was looking into cremations because those are usually cheaper than caskets. Still, they are expensive, and this patient told Jordan that she cannot financially afford to die.

Here's a salute to 104-year-old World War II veteran Anita Morris 
Jacksonville.com - The Florida Times-Union, Jacksonville, FL; by Beth Reese Cravey; 12/18/25 
Community Hospice & Palliative Care patient Anita Morris, right, receives a service flag from the guard's Amanda Boyd, a Boatswain's Mate Second Class. Morris, who enlisted in the Coast Guard in 1942, was honored for her service as she approached her 104th birthday. ... She is a patient of Community Hospice & Palliative Care, which organized the ceremony. 

Hospice Savannah launches Certified Nursing Assistant Training Program 
Savannah Tribune, Savannah, GA; Press Release; 12/17/25 
Hospice Savannah is proud to partner with Senior Citizens, Inc. and Savannah Technical College to launch the Edel Caregiver Institute’s Weekend Certified Nursing Assistant Training Program. ...  Open to all community members, the program provides full CNA accreditation through Savannah Tech and will include specialized dementia and elder-care skills training. For those who qualify, scholarships are available offering tuition assistance, CAT Bus vouchers, childcare support, discounted meals, and immediate employment opportunities with Hospice Savannah or Senior Citizens, Inc. upon successful completion and certification.
Editor's Note: This innovative CNA Training Program was awarded a $50,000 grand from Savannah Philanthropic Partners, under the leadership of President/CEO Kathleen Benton.

Healthcare AI trends and the new urgency for AI in healthcare 
Presidio; by Presidio - Insight Blog; 12/18/25
Presidio’s new report, “Unlocking Healthcare’s AI Potential,” brings together the voices of more than a thousand physicians and nurses across the U.S., U.K., and Ireland who live with these shortcomings every shift. Their experiences paint a picture of a system that is straining under the weight of outdated tools, even as new approaches offer a way to rebuild on stronger ground. 

MAID: Medical Aid in Dying - Should Medical Aid in Dying be legal? 
Britannica; by The Editors of ProCon; 12/16/25

• Introduction with Definitions ...
• Pros and Cons ...
• Euthanasia & Medical Aid in Dying (MAID) around the World ...
• Religious Perspectives on Euthanasia and Medical Aid in Dying ...
• U.S. Medical Aid in Dying Laws ...
• Landmark American Euthanasia and Medical Aid in Dying Court Cases ...
• Historical Timeline ...
• Take Action ...
• Sources ...

Editor's Note: As medical aid in dying continues to evolve, hospice and palliative care leaders require ethically grounded facts—not polarized narratives. This Britannica ProCon article provides a balanced, well-sourced foundation, including definitions, pro/con arguments, religious perspectives, legal status throughout the USA and the world (updated 12/16/25). Whatever one’s position, we offer this as a credible reference to support your ethical analysis, informed dialogue, and leadership accountability throughout your professional and personal contexts.

IAHPC photo contest: We have our winners! 
International Association for Hospice & Palliative Care (IAHPC); 12/18/25 
Our members submitted an incredible array of images that expressed moving moments, illustrated challenges, and showed the beauty of palliative care in their daily work. It required four rounds of judging by our five-member panel, plus a Zoom meeting at the end, to narrow the selection of 186 photos sent in and settle on the winners. [View]

Executive Personnel Changes - 12/19/25

• Mary Carr has retired as Vice President for Regulatory Affairs at the National Alliance for Care at Home. Prior to the Alliance, she served the National Association for Home Care & Hospice in the same role.
  
  
• Georgia Rock, Chief Operating Officer at HopeWest in Grand Junction, CO, is retiring after an impressive 44-year career in healthcare. Rock has been an integral part of the HopeWest team for the past eight years, bringing exceptional leadership, compassion, and dedication to our dementia support, PACE (Program of All-Inclusive Care of the Elderly), palliative care, hospice, and bereavement programs.
  
  
• BetterRX welcomes Marcus Wilson, R.Ph., as its first Chief Pharmacy Officer. Mr. Wilson brings more than 25 years of experience building and scaling pharmacy operations across hospice, long-term care, specialty, and medical-at-home settings.

The real holiday miracle is fitting everything into one suitcase and still finding the Wi‑Fi password. 
Editor's Note: We wish you safe travels through the holidays!