Alameda Health System’s Palliative Care department and Nursing Education have partnered once again to train nurses on palliative care concepts of pain management, symptom management, spiritual care, cultural humility, communication and caring for patients at end of life. The training is being relaunched after being paused due to COVID restrictions.
“We are thrilled to bring back this all day in person training for all of our nurses,” said Linda Bulman, Palliative Care Services, program manager. “The tools and skills nurses receive from this training will empower them to be better equipped to care for some of our most seriously ill patients.”
Bulman said her department’s work is aligned with the AHS mission of caring, healing, teaching, and serving all and education is of extreme importance.
“Education is vital to ensure we’re delivering top quality care, and we are passionate about educating our nurses,” said Bulman. “We educate on the daily, as we’re walking up and down AHS hallways and in trainings like this. We want everyone to feel comfortable to connect with our team and that they know palliative care is here to support the work they do, our patients and their families.”
Bulman shared AHS has full palliative care services at all of its hospitals due in part to a grant received three years ago which allowed services to be expanded from Highland Hospital to Alameda and San Leandro hospitals. She added the interdisciplinary palliative care team includes physicians, nurse practitioners, physician assistant, nurses, chaplains, social workers and a community health worker allowing for a holistic approach.
“We believe strongly in the holistic approach to patient care and recognize the need to partner with other disciplines to provide quality care that treats the whole patient. Our team looks at who are our patients, who are their families, what are their values and we tailor our care to their specific needs as individuals.”
The palliative care nurse training will take place twice a year at different AHS locations to reach as many nurses as possible. For more information about the training contact Linda Bulman at lbulman@alamedahealthsystem.org