As end-of-life care needs increase, so does the need to ensure nursing competency in such care. This publication addresses the specifics of both the general and advanced practice levels of these linked specialties. Hospice and palliative nurses provide a full range of services (including physical, psychosocial, and spiritual/existential care) in a variety of settings. This publication applies to all hospice and palliative nurses who provide care and advocacy to patients and their families in their experience of life-limiting progressive illness, dying, death, and bereavement. Its essay on the scope of such practice summarizes its development and status and lends context to its standards of care and standards of professional practice and their respective measurement criteria. All in all, a fundamental document for a critical nursing practice specialty. Book jacket.