Integrating ELNEC Content and the Five Wishes Advance Care Planning Document: Two Applied Exemplars
April 16, 2026
1:00 PM - 2:00 PM (ET)
Webinar Details
Join colleagues on National Healthcare Decision Day, April 16, to explore key concepts from the End-of-Life Nursing Education Consortium (ELNEC) palliative care education and the Five Wishes advance care planning document from Aging with Dignity, with an emphasis on incorporating these resources into curricula and strengthening academic-practice partnerships.
This session uses experiential learning and features two applied exemplars:
- a reflective assignment where prelicensure nursing students complete either an Advance Health Care Directive or the Five Wishes document to examine their values, preferences, and readiness for goals-of-care discussions; and
- an implementation model that promotes advance directives and demonstrates interprofessional collaboration, such as nursing–law partnerships, to support the documentation of patient preferences.
The webinar concludes with a discussion of instructional design strategies, examines feasibility and adaptation in educational and practice environments, and identifies potential outcomes including learner knowledge, self-efficacy, and communication behaviors.
Learning Objectives
- Describe how ELNEC core content aligns with the structure and intent of the Five Wishes document as an advance care planning intervention.
- Compare two applied exemplars (a prelicensure reflective assignment and a Vanderbilt-based implementation model) with respect to experiential learning elements, interprofessional collaboration, and support for goals-of-care communication.
- Identify curricular and practice-setting considerations for implementing advance care planning education using Five Wishes, including feasibility, adaptation across settings, and outcomes for evaluation (e.g., knowledge, self-efficacy, and observed communication behaviors).
Learn more about ELNEC and Five Wishes.
Speakers
Speakers
Therese Doan, PhD, RN, PHN
Professor
San Francisco State University School of Nursing
Dr. Therese Doan is a Professor at San Francisco State University School of Nursing. Her Scholarship focuses on Nursing education innovation, advance care planning, and end-of-life care. With decades of clinical experience spanning the full continuum of care—often described as "womb to tomb"—from perinatal nursing to end-of-life practice. Dr. Doan bridges academic preparation and clinical realities to strengthen nursing students’ readiness for complex patient care conversations. Her research examines reflective and experiential pedagogies that prepare pre-licensure nursing students to engage in meaningful, culturally sensitive discussions about serious illness, advance directives, and patient values.
Megan Lippe, PhD, MSN, RN, CNE, ANEF, FPCN, FAAN
Associate Professor
UT San Antonio
Dr. Megan Lippe is an Associate Professor with tenure and palliative care expert. She is a national leader for palliative nursing care education with published work in areas related to palliative care practice and education, simulation, and interprofessional education. She is a co-investigator of the End-of-Life Nursing Education Consortium (ELNEC) focused on advancing palliative care education in schools of nursing throughout the country. Dr. Lippe is a 2019 Cambia Sojourns and recipient of the 2017 ELNEC Award and 2019 Hospice and Palliative Nurses Association (HPNA) New Investigator Award. In 2023, Dr. Lippe was inducted as a fellow of both the American Academy of Nursing and the Academy of Nursing Education. In 2024, she was inducted as a Fellow of Palliative Care Nursing by HPNA.
Gloria Littlemouse, PhD, RN, MSN
Assistant Professor
Vanderbilt School of Nursing
Dr. Gloria Littlemouse, Post-Doctoral Scholar from Watson Caring Science Institute and an Assistant Professor at Vanderbilt University School of Nursing. Her work integrates Watson Caring Science and end-of-life education to advance compassionate, culturally responsive care for individuals and families facing serious illness and works with marginalized communities including her own Indigenous community. Dr. Littlemouse is ELNEC-trained, completing training in 2010 with Dr.?Betty Ferrell in San Diego, California.?She has presented nationally and internationally on Five Wishes/advance directives, expanding its integration in nursing education and global end-of-life care initiatives, including work with Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, always through the lens of Watson Caring Science. She recently returned from presenting at the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women and will serve as a keynote speaker at the University of Palermo in just a few weeks on Watson Caring Science and end-of-life education using Five Wishes in international contexts. Her goal is to prepare nursing students to create meaningful Caring Moments with Love.
Paul Malley, MA
President
Five Wishes
Paul Malley is President of Five Wishes, a program of the national non-profit organization Aging with Dignity, based in Tallahassee, Florida. Five Wishes, dubbed the "living will with a heart and soul," is the most popular document used by Americans to make health care decisions before a serious illness. The national version debuted in 1998, when Malley began his tenure with Aging with Dignity, and today there are more than 44 million copies of Five Wishes in national and international circulation. It is available in 33 languages and in Braille. The Five Wishes program provides resources and training for individuals, families, healthcare providers, businesses, employers, places of worship, and community groups. Malley holds a M aster of Arts in Communications degree from Florida State University. He joined Aging with Dignity in 1998, was named its President in 2002, and was named President of Five Wishes in 2025.
Tags
Reimagining When, Where, and How to Teach Palliative and End-of-Life Care
February 14, 2024
2:00 PM - 3:00 PM (ET)
Webinar Details
This interactive faculty webinar will advance and expand the definition and application of palliative care principles across teaching modalities. Palliative care concepts apply across the lifespan as well as across practice settings. Hear from two faculty leading a national initiative to support schools of nursing in advancing palliative care nursing education.
Objectives:
- 1. Differentiate hospice and palliative care concepts as they apply across an illness trajectory.
- 2. Expand understanding of the many opportunities to integrate palliative care concepts across multiple care settings.
- 3. Gain knowledge of available resources to assist faculty in teaching palliative care concepts.
Note: Recording of the webinar will be available soon after the webinar airs. Visit AACN's On-Demand Webinars to watch.
Speakers
Speakers
Andra Davis, PhD, MN, RN
Associate Professor
University of Portland
School of Nursing and Health Innovation
Dr. Andra Davis (she/her) is an Associate Professor with palliative care expertise (educational and instrument development). She is a co-investigator with the End-of-life Nursing Education Consortium (ELNEC) and leads a national effort to advance palliative care education in schools of nursing. With her colleague Dr. Lippe, she has developed instruments to evaluate student learning related to palliative care education. In addition to this work, she has participated in revision of national palliative care competency statements intended for use in schools of nursing. Dr. Davis has worked with an international team of researchers to explore provider experiences in caring for persons at the end of life in Thailand. Other work includes nurse-led symptom support for persons receiving cancer treatment and development of national family caregiver competencies within a national consortium of nurse educators.
Megan Lippe, PhD, MSN, RN, ANEF, FAAN
Associate Professor
University of Texas Health San Antonio
School of Nursing
Dr. Megan Lippe is an Associate Professor with tenure and a palliative care expert. She is a national leader for palliative nursing care education with published works in areas related to palliative care education, simulation, interprofessional education, and social justice. She is a co-investigator of the End of Life Nursing Education Consortium (ELNEC) focused on advancing palliative care education in schools of nursing throughout the country. Dr. Lippe is the lead author for AACN-endorsed national palliative care competence statement revisions for undergraduate and graduate education (CARES and G-CARES, respectively) and the ELNEC Undergraduate/New Graduate curr iculum.