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CARE Course Audience: Pharmacists

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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.

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 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…
Read full profile Karen Duckworth

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

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.

Matthew Tregellas

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…
Read More Matt Tregellas
Maaike Vandeweghe

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…
Read More Maaike Vandeweghe
Deborah Holman

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…
Read More Deborah Holman

Programme

  • 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

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

Day 2

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

Day 3

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

Day 4

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

Introduction to Syringe Drivers Workshop

An introductory workshop covering the theory and practice of using syringe drivers. A practical workshop with hands on practice setting up a syringe driver.

Outline

For a district nurse or nurse working in a hospice, using a syringe driver can be second nature. Health and social care professionals working in other settings are likely to be much less familiar with this piece of equipment that is such a critical part of palliative and end of life care.

Our expert nursing team will provide learners of all levels with a thorough introduction to the principles and practice of syringe drivers. As well as gaining confidence in using the equipment, attendees will also learn about some of the most commonly used drugs. The course tutors will also provide solutions to some of the most frequent problems that can occur when using a syringe driver, providing learners with the skills to troubleshoot.

What will I learn?

  • Gain increased understanding of the indications for use of a syringe drivers
  • Improve knowledge of the most commonly used drugs administered by syringe driver
  • Become confident with the procedure of setting up a syringe driver and troubleshooting

This workshop will take place at St Christopher’s CARE  in Sydenham.

Participants will receive a certificate of attendance.

Who is it for?

The course is appropriate for all Nurses, Nursing Associates, Care Home Managers, Pharmacists and Doctors looking either to upskill or refresh themselves in the use of syringe drivers.

Karen Duckworth

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…
Read full profile Karen Duckworth

Independent Prescribers – Community of Practice

April 2023 saw the relaunch of our community of practice for prescribers. We asked Fiona Hodson and Mary Watson to tell us more about the new programme and why you should join this community. You can read their blog here.

Sessions take place online on Zoom and run from 2 – 4pm. Dates and topics below.

What will I learn?

This year’s topics:

  • Thursday 13 April: Prescribing for people with Parkinson’s Disease
  • Thursday 8 June: Prescribing in Complex Pain, including use of NSAID and advance pain assessments
  • Thursday 20 July: Prescribing in Nausea & Vomiting / Anti- emetics
  • Thursday 14 September: Sedation and Ethics
  • Thursday 16 November: Prescribing in Dementia
  • Thursday 11 January 2024: Innovations in palliative care prescribing, new drugs/ off licence medications and use of cannabinoids

What will the Community of Practice look like?

This annual membership programme provides a monthly online community of practice supporting Nurses and Allied Health Care Professionals who are independent prescribers working in palliative and end of life care. The community provides members with a space for reflection, discussion and sharing of best practice.

This year we have chosen to continue with last year’s format of delivery ensuring we maximise opportunities for people to learn together as a community during live sessions. This community will meet 6 times per year (alternate months). In between the live sessions ongoing learning, reflection and critical thinking will also be facilitated through on demand resources, activities and forum discussions.

The sessions, covering a wide range of end of life prescribing issues, will include opportunities to learn from clinical experts whilst being supported to consider application of learning in practice through case study discussions, reflection and Q&A.

Members of the community can access the presentations on our Online Learning Platform (OLP). The OLP will also be home to documents, reference materials and the case studies discussed in the sessions.

Who is it for?

This annual subscription will be of interest to nurse and pharmacist independent prescribers working in palliative care.

Tutors

Fiona Hodson

Fiona Hodson

Consultant Nurse Fiona trained at Guy’s and St Thomas’. She initially worked at St Christopher’s Hospice with Dame Cicely Saunders. She then specialised in cardiology for 26 years including setting up cardiac rehab services, running cardiac support groups and as a valvular research nurse. She then worked as a heart failure CNS both in hospital and running clinics in GP practices. In 2005 she was part of a joint research project between palliative care and cardiology, exploring the palliative care needs of heart failure patients. She then moved to work as a community palliative care CNS at Guys. In 2017…
Read full profile Fiona Hodson
Mary Watson

Mary Watson

Associate Consultant Nurse Mary joined St Christopher’s in 2014 as a Clinical Nurse Specialist. For the past 18 months she has been in the role of Associate Consultant Nurse and currently works within the community team at Orpington. She started her nursing career as a Healthcare Assistant 22 years ago – 9 months into this post she applied for nurse training. It was during this that she found her passion for palliative care and knew it was the area she would like to specialise in. Mary qualified as a nurse in 2006 and worked on an acute medical ward. To…
Read full profile Mary Watson

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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