Palliative Care: Easing Non-Pain Physical Symptoms

Enhance patient care using health assessment tools and tailored treatment plans

Palliative care provides important support for people living with serious or life-limiting illnesses and their family caregivers.

On this three-week course from the University of Colorado, learn how to use symptom assessment tools to better administer appropriate interventions to individuals with serious or life-limiting illnesses, including those suffering from anorexia, cachexia, dyspnea, and gastrointestinal issues.

By the end of this course, you’ll be able to integrate palliative care strategies into your practice, enhancing the quality of life for those navigating serious illness and their caregivers.

Utilise symptom assessment tools to alleviate suffering

You’ll begin this course by identifying common non-pain symptoms found in patients suffering from serious illnesses, including anorexia and cachexia, to better manage patient health and provide family members support.

Delve further into other non-pain symptoms, including dyspnea and cognitive impairment

To understand how medications and integrative pain therapies work to reduce dyspnea and fatigue, you’ll recognise their impact on symptom severity and patient comfort.

Familiarise yourself with different types of cognitive impairment, including delirium, and offer effective management strategies.

Learn more about palliative care from the University of Colorado

Throughout this course, you’ll be guided by the University of Colorado’s team of qualified experts and healthcare professionals.

If you’re interested in delving further into palliative care, the University of Colorado offers several other courses on pain management, whole-person assessment, and easing psycho-social-spiritual distress. Find them [here] (https://www.futurelearn.com/partners/university-of-colorado-system).

This course is designed for healthcare providers working with seriously ill patients and their families, including nurses, doctors, pharmacists, and allied health professionals.

It’ll also be helpful for family and community members of the seriously ill.

This course is designed for healthcare providers working with seriously ill patients and their families, including nurses, doctors, pharmacists, and allied health professionals.

It’ll also be helpful for family and community members of the seriously ill.

• Develop a working understanding of the causes of anorexia, cachexia and dysphagia and appropriate evaluation of underlying causes.
• Identify ways to help patients live well with dyspnea.
• Develop a working understanding of the causes of fatigue, weakness, and asthenia and appropriate evaluation causes.
• Compare the different types of pharmacologic and non-pharmacologic treatments used for nausea and vomiting and constipation to know which might be effective based on the underlying pathophysiology.
• Create a list of the common types of cognitive impairment, the underlying disease process of each as well as the signs and symptoms of each condition.
• Apply the NURSE model to respond to patient or family emotional response and distress to these symptoms as they progress.