Palliative Care Awareness for Nurses

Course Title:  Palliative Care Awareness for Nurses

Course length 3 hours 

Maximum number to attend 12 

This course is aimed at Registered Nurses working within Health and Social Care who are supporting individuals who are close to the end of their lives.

The course will raise awareness and increase knowledge around services available as well as how staff can support individuals with their choices regarding their care, including support from the multi-disciplinary team.

Learning Outcome & Assessment Criteria

Introduction: Accountability

Understand accountability and scope of practice

Supportive Care, Palliative Care

Define the difference between supportive and palliative care

Gold Standards Framework

Understand the background and reasons for the Gold Standards Framework

Co-ordination of Care 

User involvement in planning, delivering and evaluating services

Assess care and support needs, including needs for:

palliative care, of each patient and carer at all stages of the patient pathway and in all domains of care

meet those needs within the limits of their knowledge,

skills and competence

know when to seek advice from or refer to specialist services

understand how to enable patients and carers to use their own knowledge and skills effectively.

Face to face communication

Psychological Support Services

Social Support Services

Spiritual Support Services

General Palliative Care Services, including care of dying patients

Specialist Palliative Care Services

Rehabilitation Services

Services for families and carers including bereavement care.

Understand the process through which patients and carers are helped to explore issues and arrive at decisions in discussions with health and social care professionals.

Have an awareness of the different support services available, when and how to access.

What do patients and carers want and need?

To identify what the patients want and expect which will include:

to be treated as individuals

to have their voice heard, to be valued for their knowledge and skills and to be able to exercise choice about treatments and services

to receive detailed information regarding their condition and possible treatment

to know what options are available to them under the

NHS, voluntary and independent sectors, including access to self-help and support groups

Oxygen therapy / Role of the nurse

Ensure that oxygen is prescribed and that the patient understands why he/she requires it.

Indications

Contraindications

Mouth Care

Care of equipment

At the end of the training session, there is a written assessment to evidence the learning of the attendees.