| Course | NURS 6910 Introduction to Palliative Care: Principles of Hospice and Palliative Care |
|---|---|
| Week | Week 1 |
| Paper type | Discussion post with two peer replies |
| Length | About 650 words, 4 pages |
| Format | Discussion post, APA 7 citations |
| School | Walden University |
| Program | Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) |
| Updated | September 2026 |
Free sample paper for NURS 6910 Week 1
Week 1 Discussion: Initial Post
"We Are Not Ready for Hospice": Separating Palliative Care From Hospice for a Family Midway Through Chemotherapy
"We are not ready for hospice. He is still fighting." That is what the wife of our composite patient, a 61-year-old man receiving chemotherapy for metastatic non-small cell lung cancer, said when the oncology nurse mentioned a palliative care consult. She heard one word and answered a question no one had asked. Her refusal is a good place to start this week, because it shows how the two terms blur for families and why nurses need to separate them in plain language.
Palliative care is specialized care for people living with serious illness, focused on relief of symptoms and stress and on the quality of life of both patient and family. It is provided by an interdisciplinary team, it is based on need rather than prognosis, and it can begin at diagnosis and continue alongside treatment meant to control or cure disease (Ferrell et al., 2018). Nothing about accepting it requires stopping chemotherapy. A palliative team might see this man in the oncology clinic on the same day as his infusion, work on his breathlessness and fatigue, and help the couple talk about what they hope for.
Hospice is a particular way of delivering palliative care near the end of life, and in the United States it is defined largely by the Medicare hospice benefit. To elect it, a patient must be certified by physicians as having a limited life expectancy, and by electing it he sets aside Medicare coverage for treatment aimed at curing the terminal illness in exchange for comprehensive comfort-focused care, most often delivered at home (42 C.F.R. § 418.22). So hospice asks a family to give something up. Palliative care does not.
The difference matters for this couple because the evidence favors adding palliative care early, not waiting. Temel et al. (2010) randomized patients newly diagnosed with metastatic non-small cell lung cancer, and people whose oncology care was joined early by a palliative team reported better quality of life and fewer depressive symptoms than people given oncology care alone, and fewer of them had aggressive treatment in their final weeks, while on average they lived longer. If I were the nurse, I would answer the wife's words directly: this is not hospice, he keeps his chemotherapy, and the team is there to help him feel better while he fights.
For the thread: how do you explain the difference when a family hears the word hospice in a sentence that never used it?
Reply to Tamara
Tamara, your example of a woman with advanced heart failure who was readmitted four times before anyone mentioned palliative care extends this week's question beyond cancer. Heart failure is harder because its course is less predictable, and families often hear that each admission might be the last and then watch the person recover. That uncertainty argues for need-based palliative care now, since a clear prognosis may never arrive. Pooling randomized trials, Kavalieratos et al. (2016) linked palliative care interventions with improvements in quality of life and symptom burden across serious illnesses, not only cancer. Did your patient's cardiology team see palliative care as their role, or as someone else's?
Reply to Jonah
Jonah, you described the consult to your patient as comfort care, and I want to push back gently on that phrase. In many hospitals comfort care is the term used when treatment aimed at the disease has stopped, so a family who hears it may reach the same conclusion our patient's wife did. The guidelines describe palliative care as appropriate at any stage and alongside disease-directed treatment (Ferrell et al., 2018). I would rather say that the team specializes in symptoms, stress and planning, and that it works with the oncologist rather than replacing her. Choosing words that cannot be mistaken for hospice may be the most practical palliative skill we learn this term.
References
Ferrell, B. R., Twaddle, M. L., Melnick, A., & Meier, D. E. (2018). National Consensus Project clinical practice guidelines for quality palliative care guidelines, 4th edition. Journal of Palliative Medicine, 21(12), 1684-1689. https://doi.org/10.1089/jpm.2018.0431
Kavalieratos, D., Corbelli, J., Zhang, D., Dionne-Odom, J. N., Ernecoff, N. C., Hanmer, J., Hoydich, Z. P., Ikejiani, D. Z., Klein-Fedyshin, M., Zimmermann, C., Morton, S. C., Arnold, R. M., Heller, L., & Schenker, Y. (2016). Association between palliative care and patient and caregiver outcomes: A systematic review and meta-analysis. JAMA, 316(20), 2104-2114. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2016.16840
Medicare Hospice Care: Certification of terminal illness, 42 C.F.R. § 418.22 (2024).
Temel, J. S., Greer, J. A., Muzikansky, A., Gallagher, E. R., Admane, S., Jackson, V. A., Dahlin, C. M., Blinderman, C. D., Jacobsen, J., Pirl, W. F., Billings, J. A., & Lynch, T. J. (2010). Early palliative care for patients with metastatic non-small-cell lung cancer. New England Journal of Medicine, 363(8), 733-742. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa1000678
Reading the NURS 6910 Week 1 instructions
In the first week of this palliative care course, the discussion usually asks you to define palliative care and hospice, explain how they differ and describe how you would explain the difference to a patient or family. Expect a brief initial post supported by two scholarly sources, then two replies on separate days. Anchor the definitions in a recognized source, such as the National Consensus Project guidelines, and describe hospice through its eligibility rules rather than its reputation. Compare the two on the same points so the reader sees the contrast directly. A short scenario helps, because the difference matters most in the words families hear. End with how you would say it at the bedside.
How the NURS 6910 Week 1 example is put together
The post opens with the wife's words before any definition. A paragraph on palliative care cites Ferrell and colleagues for its need-based, any-stage scope and describes what a team could do for this man on an infusion day. A paragraph on hospice describes the Medicare benefit's certification and election, citing the regulation, and states that hospice asks a family to give something up. The fourth paragraph uses Temel and colleagues' trial to argue for adding palliative care early and ends in a highlighted sentence answering the wife. The final line asks peers how they explain the difference. The reply to Tamara extends her heart failure case with Kavalieratos and colleagues' meta-analysis; the reply to Jonah questions the phrase comfort care.
NURS 6910 Week 1 rubric: what earns full marks
Early palliative care discussions are commonly scored on accurate definitions, clear contrast, application to practice and engagement with peers. Accuracy counts heavily because the confusion between the two services is the problem the week addresses, so definitions should come from guidelines and payment rules, not general impressions. Contrast earns credit when both services are described on the same criteria. Application is rewarded when the writer shows how the difference changes a real conversation. Evidence credit goes to a source that supports a specific claim, such as early integration alongside treatment. Replies are expected to add something, a new case or a respectful disagreement with reasons. APA citations and posting on time finish the grid, and a courteous tone is assumed throughout.
NURS 6910 Week 1 help from the desk
Opening posts in this course often lose credit by describing palliative care as care for the dying, which repeats the misunderstanding the week is meant to correct. Another loss is defining hospice by its feeling rather than its rules, so the eligibility difference never appears. Some posts cite a study without saying what it found or why it matters to the case. Replies that thank a classmate and restate the prompt earn little. Define both services on matched terms, cite the guideline and the benefit rules, apply the difference to a family's words and write the sentence you would actually say. The desk can draft a post around the scenario your prompt supplies. Keep prognosis figures out unless your sources state them.
Get a NURS 6910 Week 1 example written to your instructions
Paste the Week 1 discussion question and the rubric, and add any classmate posts already up if you want the replies aimed at them. An initial post plus two replies is drafted to that thread, free as your first sample and back in 24-48 hours. Diagnoses and family details follow whatever composite your prompt supplies.
More NURS 6910 papers and MSN samples
- NURS 6910 Week 2: Concept comparison paper
- NURS 6910 Week 3: Models of care analysis
- NURS 6910 Week 4: Eligibility and referral memo
- NURS 6910 Week 5: Goals of care plan
- NURS 6910 Week 6: Communication case
- NURS 6910 Week 7: Family assessment
- NURS 6910 Week 8: Discussion post
- NURS 6910 Week 9: Spiritual and cultural assessment
- NURS 6910 Week 10: Palliative Case Analysis
- NURS 6910 Week 11: Reflection
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NURS 6910 Week 1 questions, answered
Does the post need to define both services?
Yes, and in matching terms. The example compares eligibility, timing, setting and the place of treatment aimed at cure for each service, which lets a reader see the difference at a glance. A post defining palliative care well and hospice loosely tends to lose the vocabulary credit anyway, because the contrast is what your prompt is really asking you to draw.
Why cite a lung cancer trial in a definitions week?
Because the wife's objection is practical, not academic. She fears the consult means stopping chemotherapy, and Temel and colleagues studied exactly that pairing: palliative care introduced early, alongside oncology treatment, in metastatic lung cancer. Citing it where the post argues coexistence gives the claim evidence rather than assertion. The example states its central finding on quality of life and quotes no figures.
Are the replies graded as heavily as the initial post?
In most Walden discussion rubrics they carry real weight, so the example treats each one as a short argument. One reply extends a classmate's heart failure case; the other disagrees with calling the consult comfort care and says why. Replies that only thank a peer or repeat the initial post usually collect little, however warm they sound.
Where can I find a free NURS 6910 Week 1 sample paper?
The complete post on the family who heard hospice, with both replies and four references, is published here in full and costs nothing. A post built on the scenario in your own prompt can be requested.
What does the NURS 6910 Week 1 post say to the wife?
That the consult is not hospice, that her husband keeps his chemotherapy, and that the palliative team is there to help him feel better while he continues treatment.