Educators Archives

Sensitive Conversations

This module will give you the opportunity to reflect on your current practice and consider ways to approach the challenges that these conversations bring.

This module is currently available on an introductory offer of £45 for three modules, including Nurse Verification of Expected Adult Death and Introduction to the Principles of Palliative Care (free for South East London professionals)

Buy now – 3 modules for £45

Topics
Who is it for
Outline

What will I learn?

The basics of good communication
Challenges of having sensitive conversations
Learning from the past – understanding what patients want
Recognising the skills required for sensitive conversation

Who is it for?

All health and social care professionals wanting to know more about sensitive conversations.

What will the course look like?

We have created an on demand module suitable for all health and social care professionals wanting to learn more about sensitive conversations.

Introduction to the Principles of Palliative Care

This module is currently available on an introductory offer of £45 for three modules, including Nurse Verification of Expected Adult Death and Sensitive Conversations (free for South East London professionals)

Buy now – 3 modules for £45

Topics
Who is it for
Outline

What will I learn?

The definition of palliative care and its key concepts;
the history and development of modern palliative care;
the potential future challenges and changes in the field of palliative and end of life care.

Who is it for?

All health and social care professionals wanting to know more about the principles of palliative care.

What will the course look like?

We have created an on demand module suitable for all health and social care professionals wanting to learn more about the principles and key concepts of palliative care.

Rehabilitative Palliative Care: Webinar 4

Following our hugely successful Rehabilitative Palliative Care conference in 2022, we delivered a series of webinars on the new model of holistic rehabilitative palliative care.

Topics
Who is it for?
Webinar leads

What will I learn?

Part 1: Introducing the model and exploring leadership challenges
Introducing a revised model of holistic rehabilitative palliative care and exploring the leadership challenges of changing practice in your area and how to address them

Part 2: “My illness does not define me”. Identity crisis: adjustment to living with a life limiting condition
This workshop will explore the psychological impact of living with a life-limiting condition on self, relationships and community, focusing on adjustment through periods of transitional change. We will look at how as professionals we can take proactive steps to finding the person within the patient.

About the model

Who is it for?

This community of practice is aimed at anyone working in any setting, who wants rehabilitative palliative care to be an important part of their current and future ethos and service delivery. A basic knowledge of rehabilitative palliative care is assumed.

Watch again access to this webinar is FREE for professionals in South East London as part of the Hospice Education and Learning Partnership (HELP).

Helena Talbot Rice

Helena joined St Christopher’s in June 2011 after thirteen years working clinically in the acute sector in the NHS. Prior to St Christopher’s, she worked in various large teaching hospitals…

Middle aged white woman, smiling to camera with short blond hair

Heather Richardson

Director of Education, Research and End of Life Policy at St Christopher’s Hospice, Honorary Professor in the International Observatory on End of Life Care at Lancaster University and Senior Research…

Gail Preston

Gail has a wide ranging experience in Physiotherapy, coming to work at St Christopher’s in 2011. She has been involved in all aspects of Rehabilitation at St Christopher’s including developing…

Rehabilitative Palliative Care: Webinar 3

Following our hugely successful Rehabilitative Palliative Care conference in 2022, we delivered a series of webinars on the new model of holistic rehabilitative palliative care.

Topics
Who is it for?
Webinar leads

What will I learn?

Part 2: Eating and drinking towards end of life: making choice a reality
Exploring how healthcare professionals can enable people to make choices around eating and drinking to enhance their quality of life. We focus on how we can truly take a risk-confident approach.

About the model

Who is it for?

This webinar is aimed at anyone working in any setting, who wants rehabilitative palliative care to be an important part of their current and future ethos and service delivery. A basic knowledge of rehabilitative palliative care is assumed.

Watch again access to this webinar is FREE for professionals in South East London as part of the Hospice Education and Learning Partnership (HELP).

Helena Talbot Rice

Helena joined St Christopher’s in June 2011 after thirteen years working clinically in the acute sector in the NHS. Prior to St Christopher’s, she worked in various large teaching hospitals…

Heather Richardson

Gail Preston

Gail has a wide ranging experience in Physiotherapy, coming to work at St Christopher’s in 2011. She has been involved in all aspects of Rehabilitation at St Christopher’s including developing…

Isla Jones

Isla Jones has worked at St Christopher’s hospice as a speech and language therapist since 2020 and prior to this has over 15 years experience working as a speech and…

Nina Herrington

Nina Herrington is a qualified dietitian and registered with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC). Nina has worked at St Christopher’s Hospice since January 2022 and has a specific…

Anne McCoy

Topics
Who is it for?
Webinar leads

What will I learn?

Find out about how and why St Christopher’s has taken a rehabilitative approach to changing its delivery of certain areas of work from a professionally delivered service to a community action initiative.

See how we have managed the development, complexity, challenges and success of setting up a targeted specialist-led group for people living with progressive neurological conditions.

Hear about what this entails, then be tasked with identifying and exploring an area of your own work where you can apply all or some of the elements of this approach.

Who is it for?

Gail Preston

Gail has a wide ranging experience in Physiotherapy, coming to work at St Christopher’s in 2011. She has been involved in all aspects of Rehabilitation at St Christopher’s including developing…

Mary Hodgson

Head of Community Action & Learning/CARE Co-Lead, St Christopher’s Hospice. Mary is an experienced community facilitator and researcher, and is interested in how people understand societal challenges and want to…

Rehabilitative Palliative Care Community of Practice

Rehabilitative Palliative Care can make a big difference in peoples lives, upholding them as an individual and supporting them to be the best that they can be. Sometimes we know that creating change, implementing something new can be challenging and you can benefit from support along the way. This Community of Practice will support you using an ‘Action Learning’ model to create challenge, action planning and learning.

Why join us?
How will it work?
Who is it for?
Facilitators
2024 dates

When we are excited about change and want to implement something new it is important to take people with us and create lasting change. In these sessions we will support each other to see how the model can be used in your place of work. We will explore the challenges and opportunities that there are available to you and share expertise and experience within the group.

These sessions will not only give you a variety of support to take actions where you may be struggling but also an opportunity to network with other like minded professionals across the country and potentially beyond.

If you have any questions about the programme please contact education@stchristophers.org.uk

The Community will be interactive and formed of 6-8 people and we will meet every 3-4 weeks. This group will be based on some of the principles of Action Learning sets. In the first session we will reflect on how the new Rehabilitative Palliative Care model fits in the context of our work. We will think about the role that we all have to play as leaders, whatever level we might be in an organisation. We’ll start to think about how these might link to see what changes we would like to make where we work to implement this way of thinking.

You will be encouraged to create an overall goal and vision for the programme and consider the steps that you will need to take to implement it. The group will discuss these and provide support and encouragement along the way. We will then have opportunities, over the proceeding months, to bring issues that you are having to the group.

The aim is to create a continuous process of learning and reflection, supported by members with an intention of moving things forward. Though the group each participant with gather knowledge and have time for active reflection before making a plan. This will be followed up on subsequent sessions so we can all gain from each other’s learning.

This group is open to anyone who has a passion for the principles of rehabilitative palliative care and would like to make changes to their individual or organisational practice to more encompass these principles.

Gail Preston

Gail has a wide ranging experience in Physiotherapy, coming to work at St Christopher’s in 2011. She has been involved in all aspects of Rehabilitation at St Christopher’s including developing…

Each session is held on a Tuesday, from 09:30 – 11:00 online.

30 January, 2024
27 February, 2024
19 March, 2024
16 April, 2024
14 May, 2024
11 June,2024
16 July, 2024
17 September, 2024
15 October, 2024
26 November, 2024

Advanced Syringe Driver & Drugs Skills Workshop

Develop a deeper understanding of the medications used in syringe drivers and the assessment skills used to decide when to decrease or increase medications.

This workshop at St Christopher’s CARE involves theory and case studies. Through this workshop you will gain experience using the PAN London syringe driver charts. Participants should have completed the introductory course, or have related experience, before attending this advanced course.

Outline
What will I learn?
Who is it for
Tutors

The increased illness management complexity and the demand for high quality community palliative care at home has generated increased pressure to administer new drugs out of hospital and hospices.

This workshop will focus not only on pharmacological principles of drugs commonly used but will also focus on the theoretical and practical aspects of contemporary drugs use at the end of life.

The analysis and interpretation of complex case scenarios will help the group discussion among colleagues who either prescribe, dispense or administer these drugs, as well as the ones who monitor for their effect.

This workshop will help learners to build upon knowledge acquired during the ‘Introduction to syringe drivers’ workshop.

Objectives are for participants to be able to:

Identify drugs commonly delivered by syringe driver;
Discuss principles of pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics;
Apply theoretical knowledge to clinical scenarios.

What will I learn?

Topics covered include:

Medicine Management
Prescribing
Symptom assessment and management
End of life care

Participants will receive a certificate of attendance.

Who is it for?

Professionals who have pre-existent advanced knowledge/skills/experience with syringe drivers.

Doctors
Educators
GPs
Nurses
Nursing Associates
Pharmacists

Please note this course will cover the skills needed for caring for adults.

Karen Duckworth

Karen is a Clinical Nurse Specialist at St Christopher’s Hospice, caring for those at end of life in the Bromley community. She has recently started a secondment within CARE as a visiting lecturer and facilitates the ECHOs for Bromley and Croydon mental health and learning disability homes. Karen has worked as a palliative care nurse since 2014. Her experience includes both community and in-patient settings. She has had the privilege to work with many patients, and their families, as they face life-limiting illness. For Karen, the holistic nature of palliative care work has driven her passion for the specialty. Karen enjoys sharing…

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Teach with CARE – improve your teaching practice

Are you passionate about teaching in health and social care?
Do you want to fine tune your teaching practice?
Would you like to introduce innovations in your approach to learning?

Teach with CARE is a four-day course combining online and in person teaching spread over several weeks.

The course considers different perspectives of adult learning and pedagogy.

The sessions introduce best practice techniques including planning; presenting; resourcing; questioning; assessing and evaluating teaching across the four days.

Learners will also look at online educational tools for effective teaching as well as evaluating best practice for face-to-face and online teaching. They will have the opportunity to plan and share a short teaching session and receive supportive feedback.

“Teach with CARE has been developed to secure quality end of life education for the future. Learners will develop teaching skills that are reflective of best practice, in keeping with St Christopher’s ambitions for education. Through Teach with CARE we aim to secure a future of palliative and end of life care education, that has a real impact on learners and people at this crucial phase of life.”

Maaike Vandeweghe, Head of Professional Programmes of Learning & CARE Co-Lead

“I really enjoyed the four days. I think that Teach with CARE should be mandatory for all (teaching colleagues), no matter how long they have been teaching. It gives everyone a platform from which they can be launched and a sense of what is expected of them.”

Teach with CARE attendee

Outline
Topics
Who is it for
Tutors
Programme

What will the course look like?

This course will involve:

Online (days 2 and 3) and face-to-face (days 1 and 4) learning
Exploration of academic and web articles
A range of activity types including: live and video presentation; using interactive tools as both a learner and a teacher; discussion; pair and group work; self-study; critical thinking; reflection
Completion of tasks before and after sessions

What will I learn?

Theories of teaching and learning
Consider the needs of adult learners and how to create engaging learning
Consider implications for practice when teaching face-to-face or virtually
Enhance and develop teaching practice

Who is it for?

The course is for anyone who wishes to improve their teaching practice face-to-face and online, particularly those in health and social care, but the learning from this course can be used in most settings.

Matt Tregellas

After graduating from the University of Sheffield, Matt moved to Japan where he began his career as an English language teacher. After three years, Matt returned to the UK where…

Maaike Vandeweghe

Head of Professional Learning Programmes and CARE Co-Lead, St Christopher’s CARE Maaike graduated from the KATHO (Roeselare, Belgium) in 2002 as a general and mental health nurse. She started her…

Deborah Holman

Deborah Holman has been working at St Christopher’s since 2002 in clinical practice, in care homes and in education. For 8 years prior to this she worked closely with St Christopher’s…

Exploring St Christopher’s CARE aims and Pedagogical Framework
Considering different perspectives on adult learning
Planning; presenting; resourcing; questioning; assessing and evaluating teaching in response to learner input and feedback
Considering best practice for face-to-face and online teaching
Using online tools for effective teaching
Planning and sharing the rationale for a teaching session

Day 1

10.00	Welcome and Introductions St Christopher’s CARE and the Pedagogical Framework
11.00	Break
11.15	Theories of learning
12.15	Lunch
12.55	Adult learning and active learning
14.15	Reflection, evaluation and wrap up
15.00	Close

Day 2

10.00	The teaching context
11.15	Break
11.30	Constructive alignment, learning outcomes and Bloom’s taxonomy
12.40	Lunch
13.20	Online educational tools
14.20	Homework set up and reflection
15.00	Close

Day 3

10.00	The Conversational Framework Active learning activity share
11.15	Break
11.30	Anatomy of a teaching session Planning a teaching session
12.40	Lunch
13.20	Flipped learning
13.50	Multimedia design
14.30	Homework set up and reflection
15.00	Close

Day 4

10.00	Evaluation and reflection
11.15	Break
11.30	Making and delivering an activity with educational technology
12.45	Lunch
13.25	Power up PowerPoint and Zoom workshop
14.05	Putting it into practice
14.30	Assignment + Q&A, Final reflection, Next steps
15.00	Farewell

Five-day course at St Christopher’s followed by six work-based action learning sessions to be held monthly.

Further information

Liz Bryan
St Christopher’s CARE, 51-59 Lawrie Park Road, Sydenham, London SE26 6DZ
Telephone: 020 8768 4711
Email: l.bryan@stchristophers.org.uk

About QELCA
Lead tutor

Hospices and specialist palliative care units are a valuable learning resource for supporting and enabling generalists to improve patient care at end of life. The QELCA© programme is an innovation in end of life care education. It was originally designed by St Christopher’s Hospice, to empower teams of clinical nurse managers from acute, community or care home settings to lead on the delivery of high quality care to patients and families at the end of life. However, it is now being rolled out to other disciplines and settings.

QELCA© has been formally evaluated in partnership with the King’s Fund. A full evaluation report is available on request from Liz Bryan at l.bryan@stchristophers.org.uk. It has since been rolled out nationally to acute nurses in collaboration with Help the Hospices and NHS Improving Quality (formally the End of Life Care Programme). An executive summary of that evaluation report for 2012/13 is available here.

Liz Bryan

Liz is Education Senior Associate at St Christopher’s CARE. Previously she was the Director of Education and Training at St Christopher’s. Liz Bryan has a background in palliative care nursing,…

Overview

The MSc in Palliative Care course is intended for the future leaders of palliative and end of life care from multi-professional backgrounds (clinical care or teaching and research). The course will give you the skills necessary to critically appraise research and evidence on issues of palliative care to inform clinical practice and service development. Much of the work during the MSc will relate to your own personal work experience. This course draws on the research, expertise and international reputations of teaching staff at King’s College London and St Christopher’s Hospice. Other high profile experts in palliative care and other relevant disciplines and organisations also contribute to teaching.

We want to reflect the multi-professional nature of palliative care and provide an opportunity for different professionals to learn together. Past and present students include trainee doctors in palliative medicine, general practitioners, oncologists and anaesthetists, clinical nurse specialists in palliative care, community nurses, therapeutic radiographers, occupational therapists, social workers and music therapists. Previous overseas students have come from Europe (Denmark, Germany, Iceland, the Netherlands, Italy, Norway, Switzerland) and from further afield (Hong Kong, India, Japan, Canada, South Africa, Uganda and the USA).

We promise the ‘cut and thrust’ of discussion among students and lecturers will always be exciting!

Programme content

The syllabus is arranged in modules each consisting of ten days taught tuition.

Core modules

Research methods and statistics in palliative care
Biology and management of symptoms in advanced disease
Service organisation and policy in palliative care
Psycho-social, cultural, ethical and spiritual issues

Optional modules

Advanced pain and symptom control
Service development and management
Advanced psycho-social, ethical and spiritual care
Applying epidemiology to palliative care

MSc research project

A research project (15,000 words) usually based on the analysis of original data you have collected in your place of work.

Flexible learning options

In addition to the MSc qualification, we also offer a Postgraduate Diploma and a Postgraduate Certificate. This enables you to access the MSc programme at a point that is relevant to your circumstances, achieve credits and leave at a point that specifically meets your needs. Work achieved at one level can be carried forward to the next level. A break from study can be taken providing the final qualification is completed within a five-year period from registration.

The successful completion of the core Research Methods and Statistics in Palliative Care module, plus two other modules achieves the Postgraduate Certificate in Palliative Care; four core modules and two optional modules achieves the Postgraduate Diploma in Palliative Care.

The addition of the completed research project achieves the MSc in Palliative Care.

Formal entry requirements

You should normally have a degree in medicine or nursing, or an upper second class honours degree in life sciences, social sciences, or other approved subject awarded by a United Kingdom university or a recognised overseas university. You should also be able to demonstrate experience of working in palliative care or palliative medicine – in clinical or social care, or from a practice or research point of view.

Further information or application forms

MSc Administrator
Department of Palliative Care, Policy & Rehabilitation, King’s College London School of Medicine, Cicely Saunders Institute, Bessemer Road, London SE5 9PJ
Telephone 020 7848 5435
Fax 020 7848 5517
Email mscpallcare@kcl.ac.uk

Full details of the courses can be found on the Cicely Saunders Institute website at www.csi.kcl.ac.uk*

You can download a course information booklet at www.csi.kcl.ac.uk/booklet.html

Apply online at https://myapplication.kcl.ac.uk/

Background

People are living longer with complex comorbidities resulting in significant challenges for many healthcare systems around the world. Focusing education and training on the workforce who deliver the bulk of the care at end of life is often seen as one strategy to ensure that dying is managed by professionals with skill and compassion.

QELCA stands for Quality End of Life Care for All. The QELCA© programme is an innovation in end of life care education, designed by St Christopher’s to empower teams of clinicians from any setting or discipline to lead on the delivery of high quality care to patients and families at the end of life.

Hospice and specialist palliative care professionals have valuable skills for supporting and enabling generalists to improve patient care at end of life. If your organisation would like to become a QELCA© Satellite to deliver the QELCA© Programme to other organisations, please download the QELCA© Satellite flowchart which explains the process. The process begins by identifying at least two staff members to attend the QELCA© Train the Trainer Programme.

St Christopher’s will provide you with teaching resources and support throughout the delivery of your first QELCA© Programme. Learning will be assessed by academic assignment and submission of a portfolio of evidence.

Topics
Who is it for
Facilitator
Further information

What will I learn?

Evaluation data to date

Successful completion of this assessed programme results in St Christopher’s CARE certification and entry on the St Christopher’s held register of QELCA© Trainers available to the public via St Christopher’s website. Please note that there are annual CPPD requirements to remain on the register.

Who is it for?

For specialist palliative care professionals from:

Medicine
Nursing
Psychology
Social work
Counselling
Allied health
Education

You must have:

A minimum of 3 years experience of working in palliative care
The ability to attend all the training sessions
The ability to successfully complete course assessments/assignments (at the equivalent of academic level 6) and practical activities.

Liz Bryan

How can I find out more?

St Christopher’s exists to provide and promote skilled and compassionate end of life care of the highest quality. We aim to realise a society where all dying people and those close to them have access to the care and support they need, when and wherever they need it. We promote excellence in end of life care by delivering a range of training programmes to students from all over the world.

If you have any questions about this or any other of our courses, please contact the Professional Learning Team who will be happy to help.

Telephone 020 8768 4656
Email education@stchristophers.org.uk

Discovery Days at St Christopher’s

We welcome professionals and others interested to gain insight into the work of St Christopher’s – focused on the past, present and the future.

Opportunities exist for visits – normally planned for a Friday, focused on a programme designed to be of particular value to professionals (particularly those working in the health and social care sectors). On alternate months, a similar opportunity exists for members of the general public.

The half-day programme for professionals outlines our history and founding principles, the care on offer today and how we are preparing for future challenges and opportunities.

During your visit you will tour both St Christopher’s Centre for Awareness and Response to End of Life (CARE) and the hospice and meet a variety of people involved in St Christopher’s who will guide your visit and explain the services we offer.

If you would like a programme that is more bespoke to your learning needs, opportunities exist to co-design a programme as part of a group visit. See here for more details.

You are invited to download our new History and Walking Tour App in preparation for your visit.

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