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Pediatric palliative care in new training offerings

The Knowledge Center for Palliative Care for Children has contributed to the CZO Flex Level project. Objective: to better match training with practice. Pediatric palliative care is guaranteed in 6 EPAs.


There is currently an imbalance between the current supply of advanced nursing training (VVO) and medical support training (MOO) on the one hand, and the changing needs of healthcare on the other. The healthcare offer has become increasingly differentiated. This requires more specifically specialized healthcare professionals and therefore a different type of training. The current system of CZO 1 training means that professionals are less able to keep up with the (constantly) changing demands placed on them. A project has been started to change this.


CZO Flex Level project

The CZO Flex Level project is an initiative of the Dutch Federation of University Medical Centers (NFU) and the Dutch Association of Hospitals (NVZ). This project works on sustainable improvement of the training offer for specialized nurses and medical support staff in the Netherlands. This should be more in line with the needs in the healthcare sector. This objective is to be achieved by realizing a modular system that can move along with the changes in healthcare.

Competency-based training in the workplace

This modular system is made up of so-called 'EPAs' (Entrustable Professional Activities), which can be translated into Dutch as 'professional activities to be entrusted'. These EPAs give a concrete interpretation to competence-based training in the workplace. Essential in this concept is the idea that a supervisor only entrusts a student with professional activities to be carried out independently once the student has shown that he is sufficiently competent in this.

Pediatric Palliative Care Knowledge Center represented in sounding board group

In order to guarantee sufficient external reflection and thus increase the quality of the material, a sounding board group has been set up. The Knowledge Center for Palliative Care for Children was a participant in the sounding board group for the working group 'Theme Cluster Mother & Child'. This is to guarantee child palliative care in the training offer. Initially, there was a lot of doubt from the project whether there should be a separate EPA for palliative care within the various courses. It was suggested that palliative care should be part of the clinical process (intertwined with other EPAs). But palliative care for children is a different way of reasoning and requires more insight, knowledge and skills from the student. Fortunately, the many rounds of feedback paid off.

Result of Knowledge Center contribution: 6 separate palliative EPAs

The final report of the 'Mother & Child Theme Cluster' was published at the end of April. The Knowledge Center has been consulted for the EPA's palliative care that are described for obstetric, pediatric and HCN/ICN- 2 , HCK-/ICK- 3 nurses. This means that pediatric palliative care is guaranteed within no fewer than six separate EPAs. An achievement we can be proud of!

For questions or for further details about the EPAs, please contact Mara van Stiphout , policy advisor Knowledge Center for Palliative Care for Children.

1 CZO = The Healthcare Education Board. The CZO monitors the quality of healthcare training. The CZO tests and accredits care programs in order to maintain their quality and improve it where possible. (source: www.czo.nl)
2 high-care neonatology nurse / intensive care neonatology nurse
3 high-care pediatric nurse / intensive care pediatric nurse

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