Month: April 2018

Transition of care topic guide

Transition & Continuity of Care   Objectives for audience 1. Understand the concept of transitions of care 2. Understand concept of continuity of care and measures which support it 3. Understand the landscape of oncology, palliative and primary care in Sri Lanka 4. Factors which can improve patient experience and outcomes during transitions   1) …

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Patient Assessment topic guide

Patient Assessment 1) Identifying palliative care needs -patient with life-limiting illness (metastatic cancer, end-stage organ failure with decreasing benefit from treatment, degenerative neurological condition..) 2) Palliative approach-holistic assessment -nursing assessment includes –therapeutic relationship, communication skill,collection information and physical examination 3) Advanced care planning conversation -discuss concern, values, wishes, goals of care, place of care, decision …

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Pain assess topic guide

  Definition of pain – WHO definition Introduce the concept of the biopscychosocial model of patient care in the context of pain Conduct a simple pain assessment scenario using all elements of pain assessment- precipitating factors, quality of the pain/descriptors, radiation Severity using pain assessment tool Timing (whens the pain worse etc.) Elements of taking …

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Pain Management Topic guide

Notes: remember pain assessment has already been done.  Concentrate on the management of pain Effective Pain management must be holistic – define what this is Introduce WHO pain ladder and the concepts of using it Opioid pharmacology how to use morphine / oral and parenteral / titration introduce other opioids eg Fentanyl managing opioid side …

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Other Symptom Assessment & Management, Including Palliative Care Emergencies topic guide

Objectives for audience 1 Understand the principals of symptom assessment and ability to apply this to common symptoms (eg. dyspnea, nausea & vomiting, constipation, delirium) 2 Management strategies for different symptoms Treatment of cause of the symptom Symptom palliation Both can be applied at the same time. 3 Understand what constitutes palliative care emergencies in …

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Introduction to Palliative Care Topic Guide

What is palliative care WHO definition Principles of palliative care Palliative approach Specialised palliative services (If and where available) End of life (terminal care) When to initiate palliative care In conjunction with (not instead of) life-sustaining treatments Expected disease trajectories – malignant vs.chronic illness vs. frailty The biopsychosocial model of care Barriers to providing palliative …

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Fungating Wound Management Topic guide

Fungating Wound Management 1)What is a fungating wound? Pathophysiology – tumor growing under the skin and break through the skin surface to create a wound. Appearance: cauliflower, ulcerating, skin nodules 2)Assessment –physical, psychological, psychosocial, spiritual ( how is the impact on the patient from the fungating wound, can use case study ) 3)-Goals of care …

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Family/Carer assessment and education

  Role of the carer – how this might change over time for different illness trajectories e.g dementia Introduce the concept of carer assessment- Carer assessment examples Use of the multi-disciplinary team (MDT) to support carers Who can help e.g. social workers, physiotherapist Carer Education Medications Discharge planning process Self-care Local support for the carer …

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End of life care (Last hours and days of life)

  Identifying a dying patient (diagnosing dying) Differentiate between patients with a malignant vs non-malignant diagnosis Deciding whether to initiate life-sustaining treatments vs active palliative management. Withholding inappropriate life-sustaining treatments is easier than  withdrawing them Local legal requirements (ethical requirements will be covered separately) Psychosocial care Communicating effectively with the family that the patient is …

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Communication Skills

Use some time for lecture, but either show a role play or get the audience to spend some time with the person next to them to practice a scenario for 5 minutes. Lecture: Why is communication important Principles of good communication Basic rules of communication (setting/ preparation/timing etc) Breaking bad news (eg SPIKE model) How …

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