Hospice and Palliative Nurses Association (HPNA)

Professional Associations Membership
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Question 1
Hospice and Palliative Nurses Association (HPNA) is the national professional organization for nurses specializing in palliative care across the life span continuum. Palliative care is about helping terminally ill patients to achieve the best quality of life (Hyden et al., 2020). Established in 1986, it is the leading membership organization for hospice and palliative nurses (advancingexpertcare.org). The organization is dedicated to improving pain management and end-of-life care through education, advocacy, leadership development, and research on behalf of its members (Lunney et al., 2015). HPNA’s mission is to advance expert care in serious illness. Its vision is to transform the care and culture of serious illness (advancingexpertcare.org).
With over 11,000 members, HPNA has been widely recognized for providing healthcare professionals with support and resources needed to care for individuals with life-limiting and terminal illnesses (advancingexpertcare.org). HPNA offers nurses resources and education about palliative care. Palliative and hospice nurses often educate the public about this nursing specialty. Many people know that nurses provide life-saving care and are unsure what end-of-life entails (Dy et al., 2015). Without interactions with hospice care, the public may not understand the nursing practice associated with end-of-life care.
Becoming a member of the HPNA offer numerous benefits. One of the primary benefits is the opportunity to connect with mentors. As nurses join the organization to mentor others, they also meet other professionals within the palliative nursing specialty who mentor them (Coyne et al., 2018). This mentorship gives them the confidence to work in palliative care and overcome challenges associated with the career. For example, nurses often experience difficulty working with terminal patients (Hyden et al., 2020). Joining this organization helps them have a support network on how to handle terminally ill patients. This type of connection also helps members develop leadership skills and learn how to work better with patients and colleagues.
Question 2
Nurses in the specialty of palliative nursing should interact to facilitate learning and sharing of best practices that significantly improve end-of-life. Networking across organizational and professional boundaries enhances the quality of palliative care services offered by these nurses. Lunney et al. (2015) noted that networking promotes information sharing, which advances the nurses' knowledge, skills, and ability to facilitate healing and alleviate suffering by providing safe, quality, and holistic person-centered primary palliative care.
Palliative and hospice nurses also need to take special care to ensure they can cope with profound levels of grief and deaths in their lives to prevent burnout or compassion fatigue (Hyden et al., 2020). Networking with other professionals in this specialty help the nurses learn how their colleagues cope with the situation. Turning to therapy professionals and others can help nurses in the palliative nursing specialty ...