Generalist Palliative Care Training for Nurses

What Every Nurse Needs to Know About Palliative Care

Palliative care is specialized care, an extra level of support, for people with serious or chronic illnesses. Appropriate from point of diagnosis onward, it focuses on relieving the symptoms and stress of a serious illness, going hand-in-hand with curative treatment and improving quality of life for both the patient and their family.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, two-thirds of people aged 65 and older suffer from serious, multiple chronic conditions. The needs of this aging population create intense pressure on the healthcare system, which has led to the growth of palliative care in every care setting. Despite the growing recognition of the value of palliative care, due to workforce shortages in palliative care, there will never be enough expert palliative care nurses. There is a clear need for ALL nurses to have a “generalist” level of palliative care knowledge. Yet, the majority of nurses have never received sufficient training to provide a “generalist” or basic level of palliative care to their patients.

Register for the brochure on this course by clicking HERE to sign up.

In addition to the specialized care that expert palliative care nurses provide, nurses trained in generalist palliative care skills improve patient care and help organizations achieve quality benchmarks. By integrating palliative care skills into their “toolkit,” nurses are able to optimize patient quality of life and reduce the burden of illness.

The What Every Nurse Needs to Know About Palliative Care course teaches nurses working in every care setting the principles of palliative care. The course includes numerous tools that nurses can use to improve the care of patients they serve, including functional assessments, goal setting, delivering bad news, advance care planning and more. Nurses will learn when to refer a patient to palliative care and the benefits of providing palliative care in various care settings.

 Whether your organization has a dedicated palliative care team, contracts with another organization to offer palliative care, is considering starting a palliative care program, or is interested in integrating the principles of palliative care into your practice, this course is a critical part of your education. What Every Nurse Needs to Know About Palliative Care will help your nurses understand the benefits of palliative care, how it is different from usual care and hospice, and know when and how to refer a patient to palliative care.

This Course is Ideal for

• Nurses seeking ways to alleviate the suffering of patients with a serious or chronic illness
• Nurses working in any care setting and with any patient population
• New nurses professionals interested in learning more about the specialty of palliative care

This self-paced course is approximately one and a half hours in length and provides an introduction to palliative care. The course is designed to create an awareness of palliative care principles and it provides information and tools critical to nurses.

Fast Facts

Begins:	Immediately upon registration
Is taught:	Completely online and is available 24/7
Offers:	Continuing Education Hours – 1
Costs:	$49 per student
Requires:	Computing skills sufficient to complete graduate work, access to a computer with an Internet connection.
Is ideal for:	Nurses working in any care setting and with any patient population
Provides:	A comprehensive overview of palliative care
Cancellation Policy:	There are no refunds on our self-paced courses

Course Information

Program Objectives/Content

What Every Nurse Needs to Know About Palliative Care includes case scenarios, multi-media content, extensive resources and multiple tools to enrich the online learning experience. This course is one of a series of courses designed to teach the entire organization about palliative care. Learn more about the What Every… Needs to Know About Palliative Care series and maximize your investment in palliative care.

Learning Objectives

The course walks nurses through a comprehensive overview of palliative care, focusing on principles of palliative care, the palliative care team, models of palliative care, delivery of palliative care, settings of care, communication, and helping patients access palliative care.

At the conclusion of the What Every Nurse Needs to Know About Palliative Care course, students will be able to:

• Differentiate among “usual” care, palliative care and hospice care
• Identify the role of each member of the palliative care team and the benefits of interdisciplinary care
• Describe unique elements of the palliative care delivery process
• Recognize the value of palliative care in specific care settings
• Conduct an advance care planning conversation
• Assess and identify patients who would benefit from palliative care

Course Outline

The program is comprised of the following content areas:

1. Knowledge of Palliative Care
   1. Usual care, palliative care, hospice care core principles
   2. Funding for palliative care
   3. The palliative care continuum
   4. Core principles of palliative care
   5. Benefits of palliative care
   6. Models of palliative care
2. The Palliative Care Team
   1. Members
   2. Team member duties
   3. A closer look at the core team
3. Delivery of Care
   1. Goals of care
   2. Care coordination
4. Settings of Care
   1. Benefits of palliative care
5. Communication
   1. Advance care planning
      1. Documents/forms
      2. Conversations
6. Increasing timely access to quality palliative care
   1. Palliative care triggers
   2. Making a palliative care referral

Course Authors

• Carol Lovci, RN, MSN
• Kathy Brandt, MS

In collaboration with:

• Monique Parrish, DrPH, MPH, LCSW
• Karl Steinberg, MD, CMD
• Sue Wintz, MDiv, BCC

Frequently Asked Questions

 

Course Information

For patients and your organi­zation to get the full benefits of palliative care, EVERYONE needs to understand what it is, how and when to refer, and how to integrate its fundamentals into your practice. Learn more about the entire “What Every… Needs to Know About Palliative Care” here. Other courses available:

What Every Physician Needs to Know About Palliative Care

What Every Social Worker Needs to Know About Palliative Care

What Every Chaplain Needs to Know About Palliative Care

What Every Health Professional Needs to Know About Palliative Care

What Every Physician Assistant Needs to Know About Palliative Care

What Every APRN Needs to Know About Palliative Care