Generalist Palliative Care Training for Social Workers

What Every Social Worker 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 National Association of Social Workers, “All social workers, regardless of practice settings, will inevitably work with clients facing acute or long-term situations involving life-limiting illness, dying, death, grief, and bereavement.”  The needs of individuals across the life span are well-served by social workers trained in the basic or “generalist” principles of palliative care.

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

The rise in the number of individuals living with chronic or serious conditions has led to a growing recognition of the value of palliative care. Yet despite the escalating needs, the majority of social workers have never received sufficient training to provide a basic level of palliative care to those they serve. By integrating palliative care skills into their “toolkit” social workers are able to optimize patient quality of life and reduce the burden of illness.

Social work professionals in healthcare settings are often tasked with helping the sickest and most vulnerable patients identify and access the supports needed to cope with their illness. The What Every Social Worker Needs to Know About Palliative Care course provides social workers with guidance, tools, and techniques on how to initiate a discussion about palliative care, initiate advance care planning discussions, identify patient goals, and facilitate difficult conversations with patients and family members. It also provides information on ways to integrate palliative care elements into every social worker’s practice.

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 Social Worker Needs to Know About Palliative Care will help you understand the benefits of palliative care, how it is different from usual care and hospice, and teach you how to talk to patients and care providers about palliative care.

This Course is Ideal for

• Social workers seeking ways to alleviate the suffering of patients with a serious or chronic illness
• Social workers working in any care setting and with any patient population
• New social workers 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 social workers.

Fast Facts

Begins:	Immediately upon registration
Is taught:	Completely online and is available 24/7
Offers:	1 Continuing Education Hour
Costs:	$49 per student, group discounts available
Requires:	Computing skills sufficient to complete graduate work, access to a computer with an Internet connection.
Is ideal for:	Social workers in any healthcare setting and working 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 Social Worker 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 social workers 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 Social Worker 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

Couse 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

• Monique Parrish, DrPH, MPH, LCSW
• Kathy Brandt, MS

In collaboration with:

• Carol Lovci, RN, MSN
• Karl Steinberg, MD, CMD
• Sue Wintz, MDiv, BCC

Frequently Asked Questions

 

Course Information

Purchase Any Single Course Or Contact Us For Group/Package Discounts

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 Nurse 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