Course Description
End-of-life care presents healthcare professionals as well as patients and family members with many challenges and dilemmas. Education in the holistic and integrative care of individuals at the end of life builds on and expands professional competencies and brings healing and transformation. The Certificate in End-of-Life Issues represents a specialization in the field of caring for those who are experiencing a terminal illness. It is designed to enhance the knowledge and skills of individuals who work with dying patients by providing a multidisciplinary educational experience.
Courses Included
End-of-Life Issues: Ethical Issues
End-of-life care presents healthcare professionals with many ethical challenges and dilemmas. Advancements in medical sciences have created the possibility of reshaping the circumstances during death and can prolong lives. Understanding ethical theories and ethical principles can provide a foundation for decision making and for providing more compassionate, informed care.
End-of-Life Issues: Hospice and Palliative Care
Using a multidisciplinary team approach, the primary goals of hospice and palliative care are to provide symptom control, psychosocial and spiritual care, and optimal quality of life. The role of hospice and palliative care is rapidly expanding due to a better understanding of end-of-life issues by healthcare professionals.
End-of-Life Issues: Pain Assessment and Management
Pain assessment and management are especially important for high-quality end-of-life care. To provide quality care to individuals at this stage of their lives, healthcare practitioners must be particularly skilled at assessing pain, understanding misconceptions of pain management, addressing cultural issues in pain management, and providing effective pain therapies.
End-of-Life Issues: Physiologic Changes at the End of Life
For healthcare professionals to provide compassionate, quality care to patients at the end of life, they must understand the many changes the patient undergoes. Holistic end-of-life care provides relief, comfort, and support whenever possible. It involves a comprehensive approach to the physical, emotional, psychological, and spiritual aspects of the individual during this unique time in their lives.
End-of-Life Issues: Death, Dying, and Grief
What is grief? What are normal grief responses? What is involved in the final life transition – death? The dying experience is a profound, individual experience. The experience of loss and grief are as individual and unique as the persons involved. During this time, people often raise questions about the meaning of life. The role of culture, palliative and hospice care, advance directives, the role of spirituality in death and dying, healing strategies and rituals are all important aspects of effective end-of-life care.
Cultural Considerations at the End of Life
At the end of life, attitudes about the loss of a loved one profoundly affect how both a dying person and his or her family and friends address the dying and the grieving processes. Diverse populations in the United States provide healthcare professionals with tremendous opportunities to bridge cultural gaps and learn about different values and religious and spiritual belief systems.
Pediatric End-of-Life Care – Compassion and Caring
The death of a child is a devastating event with long-lasting effects on family, friends, and healthcare providers. While pediatric death rates in the United States have declined in the last century, pediatric death remains a critical healthcare issue. Often parents and children do not receive the care they deserve and require during this challenging time.
Caregiving at the End of Life – Issues and Considerations
Caregivers are individuals who provide care to an individual who needs assistance. Caregivers can be professionals but are often unpaid individuals who support a loved one through an illness or the last phase of life. The experience can be immensely gratifying and rewarding as well as challenging and stressful. By anticipating the demands of end-of-life, caregiving can shift the journey to one in which support focuses on acceptance and healing.
Organ and Tissue Donation and Recovery
The gift of organ donation is the gift of life. However, the gap between those who need an organ or tissue donation and the number of donations available is wide and growing. Healthcare providers need to understand the issues surrounding organ and tissue donation and recovery so they can effectively support the needs of donor families and donor recipients.
Purpose / Goal
The outcome of this certificate is for the learner to explain key elements of end-of-life management for family members, caregivers, and those who are experiencing a terminal illness.
Certificate Objectives
Upon completion you will be able to do the following:
- Describe family and caregiver issues, patient’s rights, ethical principles, and integrative health methods during end-of-life care.
- Identify specific cultural influences at the end of life.
- Discuss pain assessment and management for clients of all ages during end-of-life care.
- Examine the physiologic changes in body systems associated with the end of life.
- Describe the tools necessary to make ethical decisions for clients at the end of their lives.
- Examine the epidemiology of pediatric death and care of the dying child.
- Discuss issues related to organ donation and tissue procurement at the end of life.
Course Content
Target Audience
Nurses, health care professionals, and interested individuals.
Criteria for Successful Completion
Complete the course post exam (CE Test) with a score of 80% or greater. Complete all fields of the course Evaluation Form.
Certificate of Completion is provided for individual courses once the course post exam is passed per criteria above.
Certificate of Completion is provided for certificate programs once all of the courses within the certificate program have been successfully completed per criteria above.
Practice Level (For Occupational Therapy Only): Intermediate
Content Focus (For Occupational Therapy Only): Foundational Knowledge
Commercial Support
No commercial support has been received for this activity.
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Accommodations for Disabilities
Every effort will be made to accommodate your special needs. To request accommodations, please contact ALLEGRA Learning Solutions at allegra@allegralearning.com
Conflicts of Interest and Relevant Financial Relationships
No one in a position to control content has conflicts of interests or relevant financial relationships to declare for this activity.
Non-endorsement of Products
Accreditation refers to recognition of continuing nursing education only and does not imply ALLEGRA approval or endorsement of any commercial product.
Off-label Use of Products
None of the authors intend to discuss off-label uses of drugs, mechanical devices, biologics, or diagnostics not approved by the FDA for use in the United States.
Instructors
Cyndie Koopsen, RN, BSN, MBA, HNB-BC, RN-BC, HWNC-BC
Caroline Young, MPH
Expiration Date
March 30, 2028
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