Shanghai, May 14 – Officials from Shanghai Open University announced on the 14th that the university has partnered with the Shanghai Geriatric Nursing Management Quality Control Center to officially launch the 2026 geriatric hospice care professional training. The first phase of training includes 70 participants from nursing stations, nursing homes, and community health service centers in Shanghai.

Hospice care is not just an extension of medical services, but also a safeguard for the value of life and a comfort to family emotions. With the deepening aging of the urban population, the demand for end-of-life care is growing. How to ensure that elderly individuals receive more dignified and warmer care in their final stages of life has become a significant social issue. As more elderly people choose to age at home, end-of-life care is gradually shifting from hospitals and nursing homes to home settings. Compared to institutional care, home-based hospice care not only requires basic nursing skills but also tests frontline service providers’ comprehensive abilities in observing pain symptoms, providing psychological support, emotional comfort, and communicating with family members.

In this round of training, Shanghai Open University has for the first time included nursing stations as key training targets, extending hospice care services from institutional settings to frontline home care. Through professional talent development, it aims to promote the integration of professional hospice care capabilities into communities and homes, pushing hospice care services from institutional coverage to community extension and home integration. This marks a further expansion of Shanghai’s hospice care service system from “institutional care” to “home support.”

The 2026 training curriculum has specially added practical training content for home care scenarios, focusing on core competencies such as identifying end-of-life symptoms, emotional companionship, grief comfort, and family communication. This helps caregivers enhance their professional judgment and humanistic care abilities, ensuring that within limited home visit time, professional care truly reaches the bedside of the elderly and warms the hearts of their families.

Since launching geriatric hospice care training in 2024, Shanghai Open University has continuously provided specialized training for institutional caregivers and nurses. The university has led the development of group standards such as the “Training Standards for Geriatric Hospice Caregivers,” “Professional Skill Requirements for Patient Escorts,” and “Training Standards for Home-based Elderly Caregivers.” It has trained over 30,000 elderly care service professionals, including patient escorts and hospice caregivers. This year, the university plans to train 800 hospice care professionals in batches to support the development of the hospice care industry with a high-quality talent pool.

Shanghai Open University

Shanghai Open University is a public institution of higher education in Shanghai, established in 1960. Originally founded as the Shanghai TV University, it was renamed in 2012 to reflect its expanded role in providing flexible, distance-learning opportunities for adult and continuing education. The university aims to promote lifelong learning and has since become a key player in China’s open and online education system.

Shanghai Geriatric Nursing Management Quality Control Center

The Shanghai Geriatric Nursing Management Quality Control Center is a specialized institution established to oversee and improve the quality of elderly care services in Shanghai. It sets standards, conducts evaluations, and provides training to ensure nursing homes and care facilities meet regulatory and health requirements. The center reflects a growing focus on aging population management, with its development closely tied to the city’s efforts to modernize senior care since the early 2000s.

Shanghai Open University

Shanghai Open University is a public institution of higher education in Shanghai, China, originally established in 1960 as the Shanghai Television University to provide distance learning opportunities. It was renamed in 2012 as part of China’s broader Open University system, which aims to offer flexible, lifelong education to a wide range of learners. Today, it serves hundreds of thousands of students through online and part-time programs, emphasizing accessibility and continuing education.

Shanghai Geriatric Nursing Management Quality Control Center

The Shanghai Geriatric Nursing Management Quality Control Center is a specialized institution in Shanghai, China, dedicated to overseeing and improving the quality of nursing care for the elderly. Established to address the challenges of an aging population, it develops standards, conducts evaluations, and provides training to enhance geriatric nursing services across the city. Its history reflects Shanghai’s proactive approach to healthcare reform and elderly care management in recent decades.