Core Skills in Supportive and End of Life Care

This course focuses on patients in the last year/s of life, including those living with advanced disease in hospital settings, who have end-of-life or palliative care needs.

Your studies will develop knowledge and understanding of the concepts and principles that underpin supportive and palliative care practice and symptom management in relation to the care of patients with advanced progressive disease in your own area of practice. The course encourages you to consider your own responses to advanced, life-limiting and palliative care, developing self-awareness and self-care attributes that will support your care of others and development in this area of practice.

Who is it for?

• For registered nurses from any care setting wanting to develop generalist skills and understanding in end of life and palliative care.

• For nurses wishing to consider further study and practice in end of life care.

Timetable

May 2023 Dates TBC

Benefits

The key takeaways from this course are the knowledge and understanding of the concepts and principles that underpin supportive and palliative care practice.

The course will focus on:

• the concepts of physical, social, emotional and spiritual wellbeing in the advanced disease setting.
• the ethical consideration that surround people with advanced disease, particularly in relation to treatment escalation plans.
• communication skills
• person-centred assessment and individualised care planning.
• the concept of ‘total pain’ and the impact that has on the individual and those significant to them.
• the management of common symptoms, including pain, distress, anxiety, nausea, vomiting, breathlessness, fatigue, diarrhoea and constipation.
• the importance of staff self-awareness and self-care.

By the end of the course you will be able to:

Knowledge and understanding:

• Explore the political and social factors which influence policy in relation to addressing advanced disease, palliative and supportive care and discuss how this impacts on clinical practice.
• Analyse the evidence base around advanced individualised care-planning and achievement of preferred place of care.
• Distinguish the ethical basis upon which decisions are made, and examine the importance of shared decision-making and autonomy.
• Critically evaluate and synthesise the principles around Holistic assessment and the use of PROMS and Tools to support this in practice.

Skills:

• Using critical and holistic assessment, identify key interventions in person-centred care in respect to current practice recommendations.
• Evaluate a range of treatment modalities for the management of symptoms that a patient with advanced disease may experience.
• Explore leadership in the health and social care advanced disease setting in relation to your own role.

Values and attitudes: 

• Critically consider the importance of person-centred, collaborative, compassionate care which is individual and family focused.
• Critically consider the importance of staff self- care and strategies to avoid ‘burnout’ when caring for patients with palliative care needs.
• Reflect upon personal developmental needs and develop strategies to address these.

Teaching:

You will be taught through lectures, workshops, self-directed learning, online activities and structured group work. You will gain subject knowledge and understanding from individual reading and research, tutor guidance and peer-group support. Key learning and teaching resources will be available on uor online learning resource Moodle.

You will be expected to attend scheduled lectures which will cover some of the content of this course. Within this setting, you will be encouraged to contribute to the course through actively participating within seminars and critical reading groups; drawing upon your own experiences of practice and sharing these with others. Workshops designed around clinical skills acquisition form part of the course, as well as undertaking moderated online activities as a group or individually. Tutorial support will help you to refine and further develop your written assessment.

Assessment:

Formative: 500-word pen-portrait (anonymised) of your patient/client case study. This will be incorporated into your final assessment.

Summative: A 2,500-word case study reflecting on the care of a person with end-of-life care needs. You should focus on the management of one symptom and consider the impact of policy, holistic assessment and ethical considerations, and include a management plan for one symptom.

Credits

This course is worth 15 credits toward eligible programmes.

Non-EEA students can only apply as part of a programme, not as a stand-alone course.

• You must be a qualified nurse or midwife either in the UK or overseas.

English requirements

If your first language is not English, one of the following is required:

• A first degree from a UK university
• A first degree from an overseas institution recognised by City, University of London as providing adequate evidence of proficiency in the English language, for example, from institutions from Australia, Canada or the United States of America.
• International English Language Test Service (IELTS) a score of 7.0 is required with no subtest below 7.0
• Pearson Test of English (Academic) score 72 required
• TOEFL 100 overall with 24 in Writing, 20 in Listening, 19 Reading and 20 Speaking
• Other evidence of proficiency in the English language, which satisfies the board of studies concerned, including registration with your professional regulator.

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• Clark, D., Armstrong, M. et al (2014) Imminence of Death among Hospital Inpatients: Prevalent Cohort Study, Palliative Medicine, 28 (6): 474-479
• Elias, N. (1985) The Loneliness of the Dying, New York, Continuum.
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