Palliative Care in Nursing: The Need for Administrative Leaders
Written by:
University of Tulsa
• May 28, 2025
Palliative Care in Nursing: The Need for Administrative Leaders
Palliative care — which falls between traditional and hospice care — is health care focused on individuals with severe or chronic illnesses. Palliative care aims to manage symptoms, reduce pain, alleviate stress, and improve the overall quality of life for patients and their caregivers. With at least 13 million adults and some 700,000 children in the U.S. living with serious illnesses, according to the Center to Advance Palliative Care (CAPC), the need for palliative care professionals is great.
Among these needed professionals are nurse leaders who can help manage palliative care programs, ensuring the highest quality of care and advocating for patients and the entire care team. Registered nurses (RNs) interested in growing their careers should consider enhancing their leadership skills through an RN to Bachelor of Science in Nursing (RN to BSN) program. They should also explore palliative care in nursing to understand why it can be so crucial.
What Is Palliative Care?
Palliative care is a specialized form of health care that emphasizes relief from symptoms associated with a serious illness. While this relief often refers to pain, it can also refer to stress, anxiety, depression, and fatigue. Additionally, palliative care teams, including physicians, nurses, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, chaplains, and social workers, may advocate for patients who can’t advocate for themselves and provide them with educational, social, and spiritual support. Palliative care is administered in various settings, including hospitals, clinics, assisted living facilities, and patients’ homes.
Unlike hospice care, which is primarily associated with end-of-life care, palliative care strives to provide comfort for patients at any stage of their lives and illnesses. Palliative care has no termination date; patients can see specialists as long as they benefit from the care strategy.
Properly administered palliative care can yield many benefits beyond improved quality of life. The advantages may include lowered depression risk, improved system management, and better prognoses for patients with life-threatening conditions.
Palliative Care in Nursing: Career Paths
Multiple career paths are available to nurses in palliative care, including simply becoming a palliative care nurse and providing frontline care to chronically ill patients. Payscale lists the median annual salary for palliative care nurses at approximately $76,500 as of March 2025.
However, for RNs who’ve honed their leadership skills through experience and education, several higher-level leadership roles are available to nurses in palliative care. Some positions may require further education or certification.
Palliative Care Case Manager
Palliative care case managers determine what services best meet the needs of their patients. They evaluate and assess the service options, recommend and implement action plans, and monitor their ongoing effectiveness. If palliative care services need to be adjusted, case managers advocate for those changes. Payscale reports a median annual nurse case manager salary of about $81,900 as of May 2025.
Palliative Care Nurse Coordinator
Palliative care nurse coordinators help develop and implement palliative care programs. They may be involved in establishing palliative protocols, guidelines, and policies and managing the overall delivery of health care services. Palliative care nurse coordinators provide the palliative care team with guidance, support, and education. According to ZipRecruiter, nurses in these roles make an average of about $115,700 annually.
Palliative Care Director
Palliative care directors coordinate a facility’s daily clinical and administrative functions. They oversee clinical operations to ensure optimized patient care, developing strategies to improve care delivery when vulnerabilities are identified. Additionally, they work with other care delivery departments to maintain consistency in a patient’s immediate and long-term care. The median annual salary for palliative care directors was approximately $164,800 as of July 2022, according to Payscale.
How to Become a Nurse Leader in Palliative Care
The first step toward becoming a palliative care nurse is to complete the educational requirements to become an RN; this may be done through a nursing diploma program or with an associate degree or a bachelor’s degree in nursing.
Current RNs seeking a leadership role in the field should consider at least a bachelor’s degree. That’s the preferred educational requirement for many leadership roles, including the three roles highlighted above. A bachelor’s degree in nursing showcases an RN’s desire for lifelong learning and provides a stepping stone to other nursing degrees , such as a master’s degree in nursing or even a doctoral degree , which can further propel RNs into leadership positions.
Real-world experience is also an essential step for palliative care roles. Gaining familiarity with various treatment strategies and different types of patients can prepare nurses to handle a wide range of care delivery scenarios. These experiences can help nurses develop skills that are important in palliative care and leadership, such as medical and medication knowledge, communication, critical thinking, problem-solving, attention to detail, and empathy.
While certification isn’t required to become a palliative care nurse, it can help nurses validate their skill set and knowledge in the eyes of some potential employers. Certification can align with an individual’s nursing level. For example, the Hospice & Palliative Nurses Association (HPNA) offers certifications for nursing assistants, RNs, nurse practitioners, and pediatric nurses.
Pursue a Career in Palliative Care Nursing
The aging population in the U.S. poses multiple challenges for the country’s health care system, including ensuring adequate access to effective palliative care. Nursing professionals passionate about serving those with chronic illnesses should consider the impact they can have in this field. Palliative care leaders use their skills and experience to optimize health care delivery to a vulnerable and growing population — they strategize, advocate, and educate.
The online RN to BSN program from The University of Tulsa can help nurses gain the knowledge and skills to pursue impactful palliative care roles. It can be completed in 12 to 18 months, with a project-based approach allowing students to leverage their new or enhanced skills immediately. Program courses cover topics such as the theoretical frameworks of nursing, health care informatics, and health services quality.
Explore how TU can help you advance your nursing career and impact patient care.
Recommended Readings
A Nurse’s Role in Interprofessional Collaboration in Health Care
Types of Nurses and Their Salaries
Sources:
American Association of Critical-Care Nurses, Palliative Care in Acute & Critical Care Settings
Center to Advance Palliative Care, Specialty Palliative Care Certification
Center to Advance Palliative Care, 2024 Serious Illness Scorecard
Cleveland Clinic, Palliative Care
Clinical Management Consultants, Hospital Nurse Palliative Care Director
CMSA Today, “Defining and Describing Palliative Care With a Focus on Case Management”
Crossroads Hospice & Palliative Care, The Role of Nurse Practitioners in Palliative Care
Healthline, “What Is Palliative Care and What You Need to Know”
Hospice & Palliative Credentialing Center, Certification
Indeed, What Is a Palliative Care Nurse and What Do They Do?
NIHMedlinePlus Magazine, “What Is Palliative Care? We Asked a Professional”
Payscale, Average Hospice/Palliative Care Director Salary
Payscale, Average Palliative Care Nurse Salary
Payscale, Average Nurse Case Manager Salary
Public Health Challenges, “Public Health Challenges and Responses to the Growing Ageing Populations”
