CHPN study guide
CHPN · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.
CHPN® (Registered Nurse) is the hospice and palliative nursing credential for registered nurses in the HPCC credential family. The Hospice and Palliative Credentialing Center lists CHPN® alongside ACHPN® (Advanced Practice RN), CHPPN® (Pediatric RN), CHPLN® (Licensed Practical Nurse), CHPNA® (Nursing Assistant), CHPCA® (Administrator), APHSW-C® (Social Worker), and CPLC® (Perinatal Loss Care). The CHPN study guide has 9 sections and about 2,368 words.
01Assessment and Care Planning
Hospice and palliative assessment is continuous, multidimensional, and driven by the patient's goals. A candidate must know the domains: physical symptoms; functional status; psychological, social, spiritual, and cultural needs; caregiver capacity; safety; and prognosis.
253 words, about 1 min02Pain Management
Pain is what the patient says it is, and total pain includes physical, emotional, social, and spiritual components. Classify nociceptive (somatic or visceral) versus neuropathic pain; neuropathic pain often needs an adjuvant such as a gabapentinoid, TCA, or SNRI plus an opioid.
298 words, about 1 min03Symptom Management
Symptom management starts with mechanism and reversible causes. For dyspnea, use low-dose opioids, a fan, positioning, energy conservation, and oxygen only for documented hypoxemia; routine oxygen does not help nonhypoxemic dyspnea.
273 words, about 1 min04Communication and Advance Care Planning
Goals-of-care communication is a core hospice and palliative skill. Know the difference between shared decision-making, informed consent, and advance care planning.
262 words, about 1 min05Ethics and Legal Issues
Ethical practice rests on autonomy, beneficence, nonmaleficence, justice, veracity, and fidelity. Capable patients may refuse any treatment, including artificial nutrition and hydration; withdrawing and withholding life-sustaining treatment are generally ethically equivalent.
260 words, about 1 min06Psychosocial and Spiritual Care
Distress is multidimensional: psychological, social, financial, cultural, and spiritual. Screen routinely and refer to social work, chaplaincy, mental health, or financial counseling as indicated.
235 words, about 1 min07Grief and Bereavement
Grief is a normal response to loss; bereavement is the period of mourning. Anticipatory grief occurs before death.
262 words, about 1 min08Care of the Patient at End of Life
Recognize the dying phase: progressive weakness, reduced intake, increased sleep, withdrawal from conversation, cool or mottled extremities, irregular breathing, and changes in urine output. Not every sign appears, and some patients remain interactive.
271 words, about 1 min09Professional Practice and Quality
Hospice and palliative nurses practice within state nurse practice acts, organizational policy, and professional standards. Know the Medicare hospice benefit: eligibility (prognosis of six months or less if the disease runs its expected course), election, the interdisciplinary group, plan of care, levels of care, and recertification.
254 words, about 1 min