The Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing recently accepted $6.5 million from the Helene Fuld Trust to fund its Palliative Care Fellowship Program.

The program, which begins in May, provides an opportunity for students receiving a Bachelor of Science in Nursing and a Master of Science in Nursing to pursue leadership roles as nurse practitioners or nurse midwives.

The Fuld Fellows for Palliative Care offers two student positions for a scholarship covering half of the tuition, four semesters of a Bachelor in Nursing and four semesters of a Master in Nursing (MSN).

Assistant Dean for MSN Education Carolyn Clevenger said there is a myriad of opportunities available for students through the fellowship.

“To be in this program, we’re really setting you up for success,” she said. “We expect, within five years of being out into practice, that they will be directing palliative care centers and leading palliative care services.”

Unlike most accelerated students in the School of Nursing who complete an immersion course, students in the palliative care program are required to go to clinical placements specializing in palliative care.

While most students in the school have the option of taking an additional honors research course, Fuld Fellows are required to do so.

Clevenger teamed up with the Professor and Associate Dean for Research in the School of Nursing Kenneth Hepburn, Development Officer Amy Dorrill and Emory’s Director of the Palliative Care Center Tammie Quest to obtain funding for the program.

The four worked together to come up with the idea for the program, submit a letter of intent and ultimately submit a full proposal to the Fuld Trust.

Associate Director of Outcomes Research at the Winship Cancer Institute Deborah Watkins Bruner described palliative care as the complex holistic care of people facing end-of-life or life-threatening illnesses.

“There is more to palliative care, and it has become a lot broader,” Bruner said. “We cure some patients, but others are unable to be cured. But they’re still going to live a fairly long number of years with extremely serious chronic illness.”

Both Bruner and Clevenger refuted the common misconception that palliative care is “end-of-life” care. According to Clevenger, “end-of-life” care falls under palliative care as only a small part of it.

School of Nursing Instructor Corrine Abraham said she believes the program has a lot of potential.

“The climate and the culture attracts a lot of people,” Abraham said. “It’s just another reason for the School of Nursing to be a destination school, and we recruit people who have that passion.”

A major goal of the Palliative Care Fellowship Program is to promote leadership among its students.

“It will facilitate recruitment of students that will then provide leadership within the student body,” Abraham said. “It’s also a mechanism for strengthening our relationships with our clinical partners, as well as enhancing our relationships with our inner professional colleagues.”

Applications will be posted on the School of Nursing website within the next month.

They will be due Jan. 15, and interviews for the program will be conducted mid-March.

– By Catherine Pilishvili 

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