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CARE Course Topic: Symptom Assessment and Management

Principles and Practice of Palliative and End of Life Care for Registered Nurses, Nursing Associates and Allied Health Professionals

Outline

The COVID-19 pandemic brought into sharp focus the importance of end of life care, across all settings.

This three-day introduction provides all registered nurses, nursing associates and allied health professionals, with the essential building blocks to support patients and their families at the end of life, in the community, acute hospitals, primary care, hospices, prisons and care homes.

Attendees will have the opportunity to discuss, evaluate and increase their knowledge, skills and confidence in relation to end of life care.

This is course consists of three in-person days at St Christopher’s CARE in Sydenham, London.

You will be provided with access to our Online Learning Platform which will be available for three months for you to view resources from the course.

What will I learn?

On completion of this course you will:

  • Have increased confidence and skills in end of life care
  • Be aware of national and local resources and services available
  • Explore barriers and difficulties that may be encountered at a personal, professionals and service level
  • Develop communication skills and confidence to deal with challenging questions around dying
  • Develop skills in symptom and pain control
  • Identify areas for development within your own practice and apply learning from the course to optimise those areas.

On completion of the course you will receive a certificate of attendance.

Who is it for?

This course is aimed at all Registered Nurses, Nursing Associates and Allied Health Professionals working in any setting.

Attendees from the November 2023 course gave this feedback:

“[The teachers] were very knowledgeable and delivered the training with utmost passion for the course.”

“Very knowledgeable and was very helpful. Has changed my mindset of palliative care.”

“Very interactive”

“Keep up the good work in imparting knowledge that will have a great impact on how professionals give care.”

We also run a two-day course for health and social care assistants.

Supported by visiting lecturers and clinicians

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 as a district nurse with a keen interest in caring for people who chose to die at home. From 2012 – 2019 Deborah, alongside others set up St Christopher’s Personal Care Service and worked as the Registered Manager delivering integrated health and social care in people’s homes to those who were frail elderly, having long term conditions and those in the last year of life. Deborah has been involved in…
Read full profile Deborah Holman

Principles and Practice of Palliative and End of Life Care for Health and Social Care Assistants

This two-day course provides Health and Social Care Assistants working in any setting with the essential building blocks to support patients and their families at the end of life

What will the course look like?

This two-day introduction provides all health and social care assistants with the essential building blocks to support patients and their families at the end of life, in the community, acute hospitals, primary care and care homes.

Attendees will have the opportunity to discuss, evaluate and increase their knowledge, skills and confidence in end of life care.

Our Online Learning Platform will be available for three months for you with all resources from the 2 days.

What will I learn?

On completion of this course you will:

  • Have increased confidence and skills in end of life care
  • Be aware of national and local resources and services available
  • Explore barriers and difficulties that may be encountered at a personal, professionals and service level
  • Develop communication skills and confidence to deal with challenging questions around dying
  • Develop skills in symptom and pain control.

On completion of the course you will receive a certificate of attendance.

Who is it for?

This course is suitable for all health and social care assistants working in any setting.

The first day of this course is free for HELP Care Home Partners.

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…
Read More Karen Duckworth

MSc, Postgraduate Diploma and Postgraduate Certificate in Palliative Care

Overview

Kings College LondonThe 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/

Advanced Assessment in Enhancing Palliative Care Practice

This course is run in partnership with King’s College London and aims to facilitate the personal and professional development of palliative care nurses and allied health professionals (AHPs) engaged in advancing their clinical practice and palliative care service delivery. The applicants must be clinical and working at Band 6 or above, and they must currently work in practice with access to a mentor.

The aim is to equip practitioners to work effectively within their organisational structure and to apply key principles to the development of their practice/service. The development of these skills will be underpinned by strategic concepts, appropriate theoretical frameworks and analytical tools, which will encourage practitioners to critically analyse the scope of their current role.

This module is the core course for the MSc Advanced Practice (Palliative Care).

Palliative And End Of Life Care Foundations

This module for registered nurses has been developed collaboratively between St Christopher’s and the Florence Nightingale Faculty of Nursing, Midwifery and Palliative Care at King’s College London (KCL) and can be taken as a 15-credit standalone module at Level 6 (degree level) or as an optional module for the BSc programme.​

This module explores the principles of palliative and end of life care, as applied in all care settings (hospices, acute hospitals, care homes and the community). It aims to equip nurses with the skills to complete an initial and ongoing assessment of the needs of a patient requiring palliative or end of life care, with regard to their physical, psychological, spiritual and cultural well-being. It will also explore and analyse the needs of the ‘family’ and the role of the nurse and multi-professional team in meeting these needs.

New dates tbc, please contact King’s for further information (details below).

Applications

For more information about this course and how to apply visit the King’s website or contact Dr Karen Gillett, E mail: Karen.Gillett@kcl.ac.uk

Palliative and End of Life Care Symptom Management

Applications

Student Services Centre (SSC), Florence Nightingale School of Nursing and Midwifery, King’s College London, James Clerk Maxwell Building, 57 Waterloo Road, London SE1 8WA

Telephone 020 7848 4698
Email nightingale@kcl.ac.uk

For all courses including this one please visit the King’s College London website:

Nursing, Midwifery & Palliative Care (kcl.ac.uk)

Direct link to this course is here where you will also find contact details.

What will I learn?

This module aims to equip nurses to provide active holistic palliative care to patients with advanced progressive illness. It considers the role of the nurse in symptom management and the provision of physical, psychological, social and spiritual support in order to achieve the best possible quality of life for patients and their families.

Who is it for?

This course has been developed in collaboration with Florence Nightingale School of Nursing and Midwifery, King’s College London (KCL) and can be taken as a 15-credit module at either level 6 or level 7. It is suitable for RNs working in any setting. However, it may be more applicable to those specialising in palliative care.

Course tutors

Course Leader: Karen Gillett Lecturer, King’s College London
Florence Nightingale School of Nursing and Midwifery, King’s College London, 57 Waterloo Road, London SE1 8WA
Telephone 020 7848 3741
Email karen.gillett@kcl.ac.uk

BSc Programme Lead: Lorraine Robinson Principal Lecturer, King’s College London

What will the course look like?

This module aims to equip nurses to provide active holistic palliative care to patients with advanced progressive illness. It considers the role of the nurse in symptom management and the provision of physical, psychological, social and spiritual support in order to achieve the best possible quality of life for patients and their families.

Teaching is provided by a combination of nurse lecturers from the university and by clinicians from St Christopher’s. It will run over two three-day blocks and will be assessed by a written assignment.

The first three days will be held at KCL, Waterloo Campus, and the remaining three days are held at St Christopher’s Hospice, Sydenham.

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