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PITTSBURGH, Feb. 8, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Hospice and Palliative Credentialing Center (HPCC), the certification organization in palliative care, has joined with the Hospice and Palliative Nurses Association (HPNA) and the Hospice and Palliative Nurses Foundation (HPNF) to highlight the Value of Hospice and Palliative Certification in an updated position statement. 

These three organizations share the same mission, to advance expert care in serious illness, and all believe that professional certification in hospice and palliative care is an important aspect in ensuring quality care and outcomes for individuals and their families.

Certification is a process that validates the knowledge that an individual has within the specialized area of practice.  Hospice and palliative care delivery and research have matured in the last ten years, however, academic degrees alone do not ensure specialty palliative skill, knowledge, and expertise. 

"As the population ages, and with advances in medical treatments and technology, more and more people of all ages are living with chronic diseases," said Susan Koff, ARNP ACHPN, President of the HPCC Board of Directors. "The demand for highly qualified, competent staff is growing."

Studies have demonstrated a positive link between certification and performance outcomes, such as higher patient satisfaction ratings, fewer adverse events in patient care, and increased personal growth and professional satisfaction among other benefits.  Certification also has a significant positive impact on patient care and safety, with studies indicating improvements in clinical outcomes. 

Certification helps to ensure a certain level of knowledge, skills, and competency of individuals, which in turn lead to enhanced professional satisfaction and growth and also to better quality of care and outcomes for patients.

"Successful attainment of professional specialty certification and recertification are a means of demonstrating continuing competence," said Sally Welsh, MSN RN NEA-BC, and CEO of HPCC, HPNA, and HPNF.   

The Hospice and Palliative Credentialing Center promotes the delivery of comprehensive palliative care through the certification of qualified members of the hospice and palliative care team.  HPCC provides a national standard of requisite knowledge required for certification, encouraging continued personal and professional growth, establishing and measuring the level of knowledge, and recognizing those individuals who meet the certification eligibility requirements.

All three organizations advocate for certification of the hospice and palliative team members as formal recognition of current standards of care, encourage employers to actively support certification and recertification of their staff, and support specialty certification as a mechanism to demonstrate initial and continuing competence.

To read the entire position statement, visit:  http://advancingexpertcare.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Value-of-Hospice-and-Palliative-Certification.pdf

To learn more about the value of certification and the organization, please visit the Hospice and Palliative Credentialing Center's web site at http://hpcc.advancingexpertcare.org.

ABOUT HPCC, HPNA, and HPNF

To find out more about all three organizations, visit http://advancingexpertcare.org.

Contact:  Harry Crytzer
412.787.9301 or harryc@hpna.org

SOURCE Hospice and Palliative Credentialing Center