Palliative and End of Life Care for people with life threatening illness.

Learning Outcomes

Learning Outcomes

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• Critically discuss ways in which your learning needs will inform your future practice and be disseminated to others.
• Evaluate the implications of your learning in relation to your practice
• Critically analyse and reflect upon the contribution of knowledge to palliative and end of life care.
• Analyse the experience of patients and families facing life threatening illness.
• Demonstrate sensitivity and understanding of the emotional responses to life-threatening illness of patients, family and self.

• Grief and loss over the life span development – children, adults and older people – will include theories of loss, attachment and meaning etc.
• Communication skills, including breaking bad news, appropriate challenging, dealing with anger, denial, collusion and inter-professional working.
• Working with families / family theory.
• Nature of malignant and non-malignant disease.
• Holistic care in relation to pain and symptom assessment and management.
• Key policies e.g. NHS End of Life Care Programme (DH2006)
• Concepts of a ‘good death’ including multicultural aspects.
• Dying trajectories.
• Ethical decision-making at the end of life, including patient centred perspectives e.g. advanced directives.
• Spiritual care e.g. concepts of spiritual health and ‘disease’.
• Maintaining personal and professional boundaries.
• After death care e.g. last offices, tissue donation, unified DNR form.

Teaching and learning methods

The teaching and learning methods are designed explore your clinical experienceso that you can integrate theory and research in the provision of quality care for people with palliative and end of life care needs.

Learning methods in this module will include group discussions, group activities, problem solving,and individual learning - through reading, reviewing literature, homework, literature searching and utilisation of databases to retrieve information, reflection

Inquiry based learning will be the foundation used to support your learning - through critical reflection of your practice you will identify the personal, cultural, professional, political and social drivers underpinning your practice.

Resources & Reading list

General Resources

End of Life Care Strategy. Department of Health (2010) End of Life Care Strategy. London: DH.

Internet Resources

End of Life Care Core Skills Education and Training Framework.

One Chance to Get it Right: Improving people’s experience of care in last few days and hours of life.

Journal Articles

Chan R and Webster J (2010). End-of Life care pathways for improving outcomes in caring for the dying. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, Issue 1(Art. No.: CD008006.).

Textbooks

Cherny N, Fallon M, Kaasa S, Portenoy RK, and Currow DC (Eds) (2015). Oxford Textbook of Palliative Medicine. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Rolfe G. Jasper M. and Freshwater D (2010). Critical reflection in practice generating knowledge for care.. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Matzo M, Sherman DW, eds. (2015). Palliative Care Nursing: Quality Care to the End of Life. New York: Springer Publishing.

Assessment strategy

The module provides students with early feedback in response to a formative assignment during the module taught time, and before the submission of the summative assignment.

The forms of assessment have been designed to develop your skills of academic, critical reflection

Formative

This is how we’ll give you feedback as you are learning. It is not a formal test or exam.

Summative

This is how we’ll formally assess what you have learned in this module.

Repeat Information

Repeat type: Internal & External