Palliative Care Training Program

Essentials of Palliative Care:  A Program for Health Care Professionals

The seriously ill and dying and their families need support as they try to cope with the sometimes complex treatments and the decision-making that are required near the end of life.  Even health care professionals, chaplains, clergy and other counselors may feel inadequately prepared to assist them.

Our educational program is designed for nurses, social workers, clergy, counselors and other allied professionals working with patients who need palliative care, and their families.  This eight-hour seminar will help participants gain greater confidence in working with the seriously ill and dying, and gain a deeper understanding of the medical realities faced by physicians, patients and their families during the course of a terminal illness.

The seminar focuses on:

• Personal death awareness
• Understanding grief, loss and empathy
• "Life Review" and existential suffering
• Principles of palliative care
• Withholding/withdrawing life sustaining treatments
• Advance directives
• Resuscitation/CPR issues
• Last hours of living
• Spiritual assessment/communication
• Nurses and social workers can earn continuing education units.