title: End of life care education, past and present: a review of the literature.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Research on end of life care education suggests that undergraduate nursing students are largely unprepared to provide end of life care to dying patients and their families. Although there have been attempts to address the issue of lack of preparedness, little is known on how to improve this.
  To examine how end of life care education has been delivered to undergraduate nursing students and to critically discuss the research on modes of delivery and teaching strategies.
  
  
  METHODS
  An extensive literature search on end of life care education in the undergraduate nursing curriculum was conducted in CINAHL, Mosby's Index, Cochrane Database, Scopus, Eric via Proquest, and Medline. 18 research papers published between 1984 and 2012 that met the selection criteria are included in the review.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Findings of these 18 articles are reported under two main themes: Modes of End of Life Education Delivery and End of Life Care Education Initiatives.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This review highlights issues with end of life care education and suggests that end of life care simulation is an innovative strategy that may help to prepare undergraduate nursing students to provide quality end of life care.
authors.affiliation: University of New England, P.O Box U90, Armidale, NSW 2351, Australia. Electronic address: pgillan3@une.edu.au.
authors.forename: Pauline C
authors.initials: PC
authors.lastname: Gillan
authors.affiliation: University of Newcastle, University Dr, Callaghan, NSW 2308, Australia. Electronic address: Pamela.Vanderriet@newcastle.edu.au.
authors.forename: Pamela J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: van der Riet
authors.affiliation: University of Newcastle, P. O. Box 127, Ourimbah, NSW 2258, Australia. Electronic address: Sarah.Jeong@newcastle.edu.au.
authors.forename: Sarah
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Jeong
mesh_terms: D004508:Education, Nursing, Baccalaureate / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D015402:Nursing Education Research; D013727:Terminal Care
keywords: End of life care education; Undergraduate nursing students