Palliative care is the holistic care of patients with incurable, progressive and life-limiting illness. This may involve work on physical symptoms, psychological difficulties, social challenges and spiritual distress. It is also important to support those around the patient. By the nature of this, patients can have complex needs.

Conversely, palliative care education is complex. Health professionals in multiple roles (doctors, nurses, allied health professionals and non-clinical staff among others) are key to good palliative care, so it is important that all groups can access and receive education that is appropriate for them. It is a key role of specialists in palliative care, as well as others, to deliver and facilitate this education.

This #WeNurses Tweetchat in collaboration with Health Education England's Technology Enhanced Learning Team and the Association of Palliative Medicine of Great Britain and is an opportunity for professionals to explore education in palliative and end of life care.

Questions

-How can education in palliative and end of life care be delivered?

-How is it best delivered?

-What is the importance of this area of practice?

-What frameworks can be used to support palliative and end of life care education?

References/FurtherReading

Frameworks:

Association for Palliative Medicine: 2014 curriculum forundergraduate medical education. Available from: https://www.apmuesif.phpc.cam.ac.uk/index.php/apm-curriculum

NHS Education for Scotland. 2017. Palliative and End of LifeCare: A framework to support the learning and development needs of the health andsocial service workforce in Scotland. Available from: https://nesvleprdstore.blob.core.windows.net/nesndpvlecmsprdblob/63677ef2-7b65-4115-a7e1-33e7b808fae7_Palliative%20framework%20interactive_p2%20(1).pdf?sv=2018-03-28&sr=b&sig=4Sy%2Bwtah3lWIikmCVUWNiiYvOwT4nT%2BaOa9CDj%2BWQcU%3D&st=2019-10-27T20%3A52%3A17Z&se=2019-10-27T21%3A57%3A17Z&sp=r

Health Education England, Skills for Care and Skills forHealth. The Care Certificate Standards. Available from: https://www.skillsforcare.org.uk/Learning-development/inducting-staff/care-certificate/Care-Certificate.aspx

e-Learning Resources:

e-ELCA (End of Life Care for All). Available from: https://www.e-lfh.org.uk/programmes/end-of-life-care/

e-LfH Care Certificate. Available from: https://www.e-lfh.org.uk/programmes/care-certificate/

Reading:

Boland JW, Barclay S and Gibbins J. (2019) Twelve tips fordeveloping palliative care teaching in an undergraduate curriculum for medicalstudents. Med Teach. 28: 1-7. doi: 10.1080/0142159X.2018.1533243. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/0142159X.2018.1533243?needAccess=true

McMahon D and Wee B. (2019) Medical undergraduate palliativecare education (UPCE). BMJ Support Palliat Care. 2019. doi:10.1136/bmjspcare-2019-001965. https://spcare.bmj.com/content/early/2019/08/29/bmjspcare-2019-001965?int_source=trendmd&int_medium=cpc&int_campaign=usage-042019

Latta L and MacLeod R. (2019) Palliative Care Education: AnOverview. In: Textbook of Palliative Care, p1-21. Springer Link. https://link.springer.com/referenceworkentry/10.1007%2F978-3-319-31738-0_95-1

About our guests

Dr Iain Laurie (MMEd FRCP MRCGP) @IainDr who is Consultant & Honorary Clinical Senior Lecturer in Palliative Medicine; Associate Hospital Dean for Communication Skills Teaching; and President of The Association for Palliative Medicine of Great Britain & Ireland

Dr Rich Kitchen (MBChB MA MRCP) @RichKitchen who is Consultant in Palliative Medicine and Association for Palliative Medicine e-ELCA Lead