Palliative Care: Supporting Patients Living with Serious Illness

Support the seriously ill with the University of Colorado

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

On this five-week course, you’ll learn how illnesses affect the emotional and spiritual wellbeing of the seriously ill and their families. One of a series on palliative care from the University of Colorado, the course will provide the understanding you need to support and empathise with those in your care.

Explore forms and causes of suffering and distress

There are many sources of suffering for those living with a life-limiting illness: adjusting to a “new normal” that revolves around illness, the pressure placed on friends, families, and support systems, the stress of a future that is unknown.

You’ll start the course by exploring forms, causes, and ways of expressing suffering and distress. Learning from real-world case studies from palliative care patients, you’ll develop your ability to empathise with the experience of the seriously ill.

Develop communication skills for palliative care

The second phase of the course is focused on honing your communication skills for interactions with patients and family caregivers.

You’ll discover concrete strategies for sharing bad news with patients and families, or for responding to their emotional responses and distress

Reflect on the importance of self-awareness in palliative care

The last week of the course introduces the role self-awareness plays in providing palliative care that respects the values and beliefs of seriously ill people.

You’ll be encouraged to reflect on your own values and beliefs around health, illness, and dying to minimise the potential of imposing these beliefs on others.

With the understanding you develop through the course, you’ll be better equipped to support those in your care.

This course is primarily designed for healthcare providers working with seriously ill patients and their families. This includes nurses, doctors, pharmacists, and allied health professionals (e.g. social workers, spiritual care providers, mental health professionals, therapists).

It will also be valuable for families, friends, and communities supporting the seriously ill.

This course is primarily designed for healthcare providers working with seriously ill patients and their families. This includes nurses, doctors, pharmacists, and allied health professionals (e.g. social workers, spiritual care providers, mental health professionals, therapists).

It will also be valuable for families, friends, and communities supporting the seriously ill.

• Interpret the experience of serious illness and the many aspects of suffering and distress. These are the first steps in supporting and addressing the sources of suffering.
• Apply the knowledge to provide primary palliative care to all and identify individuals that need specialist palliative care.
• Develop a working definition of suffering and understand the four areas that make each individual's experience unique.
• Develop a definition of therapeutic communications in healthcare and apply to your own patient/family caregiver interactions.
• Apply the SPIKES model in your own work when you need to share bad news with patients and families.
• Use the NURSE model to respond to patient/family caregiver emotional responses and distress.
• Interpret the components of the palliative care whole person assessment.