Research Centers

Center for Nursing Excellence in Palliative Care

Adult gero students with live patient in the skills lab

About

Adult gero students with live patient in the skills lab

What Is Palliative Care Nursing

Palliative care focuses on improving the quality of life for people with serious illnesses and their care partners. It is an evidence-based practice that includes the assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of human responses to actual or potential life-limiting illness — thus reducing or relieving suffering and optimizing health. The essence of palliative nursing is honoring each patient’s journey and attending to psychological responses to the end of life, social and cultural factors, and spiritual aspects of care.

Students with an elderly patient in the home lab at the ENLC

Our Mission

Our mission is to improve palliative care for patients with life-threatening illness across their lifespan and their families by generating palliative nursing leaders through education, practice, and research.

Research

Advancing Knowledge to Improve Health Outcomes 

There are currently six nursing research areas in the Center for Nursing Excellence in Palliative Care. 

  1. End-of-life communication, treatment decision-making, and surrogate decision-making
  2. Quality of life
  3. Symptom science
  4. Pain and symptom management
  5. Family caregiving
  6. Palliative care integration into advanced illness management

Featured Research Programs

These research programs are designed to advance nursing excellence in palliative care. 

This program is to help accelerate innovation in palliative care research and development of palliative care research programs for junior investigators and student researchers. A call for proposal is announced annually.

Each year, the center invites an eminent scholar in the fields of palliative care to inspire faculty, students, and local health care communities with a vision of excellence in palliative care education, practice, and research. This event typically occurs in April.

"Research about patient and family caregiver experiences will continue to inform nursing and other fields in health sciences. Healing doesn’t happen without improving the human experience, and that’s where nursing stands out.”

Mi-Kyung Song, PhD, RN, FAAN, Edith Honeycutt Endowed Chair in Nursing, Professor, and Director of the Center for Nursing Excellence in Palliative Care 

Education

Adult gero students with live patient in the skills lab

Fuld Palliative Care Fellowship Program

The Fuld Palliative Care Fellowship was established in 2015 with generous gifts from the Helene Fuld Health Trust. The goal of this program is to develop nurse leaders who can improve the quality of life for people with serious illnesses and their families. The fellowship focuses on palliative care education, interdisciplinary practice, and immersion in palliative care clinical initiatives, research, and policy development by working with the Emory Palliative Care Center.

Our Team

Center Advisory Board

Nursing Distinguished Professor of Critical Care Research
Center for Healthy Aging, Self-Management, and Complex Care
Co-Director, Golden Buckeye Center for Dementia Caregiving
Co-Director, T32 Training in the Science of Health Development
The Ohio State University College of Nursing

Learn More

Assistant Professor
Emory University
Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing

Learn More

CEO and Co-Founder, Corstrata 

Katherine Piette is the CEO and Co-Founder of Corstrata. As a 20+ year post-acute, healthcare executive, Katherine has served in quality, marketing, and operational roles. She brings extensive experience in Telehealth, continuous process improvement, project planning, and organizational redesign for care management and high-opportunity, high-cost populations including wounds and ostomies. 

Learn More

Contact

Get in Touch

Center for Nursing Excellence in Palliative Care

Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing
Emory University
1520 Clifton Road
Room 324
Atlanta, GA 30322-4027

Natalie Wagoner
Center for Nursing Excellence in Palliative Care
Emory University
Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing
Email: nwagon2@emory.edu