Sage Palliative Medicine & Chronic Care

This episode features Minna Hökkä (Research Unit of Nursing Science and Health Management, Medical Department, Oulu University, Oulu, Finland). Palliative care is provided across a wide range of healthcare settings, from tertiary hospitals to primary care. It has been recognized that palliative care services should be delivered in at least two or three levels (i.e., palliative care approach, generalist palliative care, specialist palliative care). All healthcare professionals should have the appropriate education and competencies to provide high-quality palliative care. Nurses have an important role in the provision of palliative care in all levels. This systematic integrative review is the first to focus on empirical studies defining the core competencies of palliative care nursing aligned with the different levels of palliative care provision. The results show that both the distinct levels of palliative care provision and corresponding palliative care nursing competencies are rarely defined. Rather than d