End-of-Life Essentials
End-of-Life Essentials provides online learning opportunities and practice resources for doctors, nurses and allied health professionals to improve the quality and safety of end-of-life care in hospitals. Education modules are designed to assist all health professionals working in acute hospitals in delivering end-of-life care.
There are 25 modules available across six main topics. The Australian Physiotherapy Association recommends that, at a minimum, health professionals complete the Orientation to End-of-Life Care package.
Click on this link to sign up for End-of-Life Essentials: https://education.endoflifeessentials.com.au/
Orientation to End-of-Life Care
Learning more on the the delivery of end-of-life care and the importance of your role for people who are dying in hospitals.
- Recognising Dying
- 30 minutes
- Explores how to recognise when patients are approaching end of life, understanding common trajectories of dying and the patient's perspective of dying
- Imminent Death
- 30 minutes
- Identification of the signs of imminent death, understanding how to provide compassionate clinical care in the final days and hours of life
- Communication and Decision-Making
- 40 minutes
- End-of-life communication to help prepare for common questions and extend your own communication skills
Comprehensive Care
Quality end-of-life care requires a range of clinical skills and knowledge. Learn more and grow your confidence in starting conversations about end-of-life care and negotiating goals of care with patient and families.
- Goals of Care at the End of Life
- 30 minutes
- Identifies essential elements of negotiating goals of care with patients and families
- Chronic Complex Illness End-of-Life Care
- 35 minutes
- Recognises uncertainty around increased hospitalisation for people living with chronic complex conditions, and outlines opportunities for end-of-life planning
- Bereavement Care
- 35-40 minutes
- Explores grief and bereavement and identifies strategies to improve bereavement outcomes for families of the dying person in acute hospitals
Collaboration and Coordination of Care
Quality end-of-life care requires working collaboratively with a range of teams to provide patients with high quality coordinated care. Learn more and develop your skills and capacity to promote effective team work.
- Voluntary Assisted Dying in Acute Hospitals
- 30 minutes
- Explores Voluntary Assisted Dying (VAD) as an end-of-life choice, identifies relevant resources for each Australian state, and proposes strategies to support effective and empathic communication with patients, families, and teams
- Teamwork and Escalating Concerns
- 30 minutes
- Explores the essential elements of effective healthcare teams and suggests steps for managing conflict and responding to end-of-life care concerns
- Coordinating Patient Care
- 25-30 minutes
- Coordination of care is vital for people who are dying. Learn more about your role in coordinating care within and beyond your hospital
Caring for a Patient's Mental State
People living and dying with serious illness may have emotional, social, spiritual and existential concerns as well as mental ill-health. Learn more here.
- States of Mind at the End of Life
- 35-40 minutes
- Describes aspects of psychosocial and existential wellbeing in end-of-life care
- Assessing Patient States of Mind at the End of Life
- 25-30 minutes
- Focusses on screening for psycho-existential symptoms for patients at the end of life
- Clinical Management of Anxiety, Depression and More
- 25-30 minutes
- Focusses on the clinical management of psycho-existential symptoms for patients at the end of life
Specific End-of-Life Care
Learn more about delivering end-of-life care in different clinical settings and across diverse communities.
- End-of-Life Care for Diverse Communities
- 25-30 minutes
- Patients are not all the same. Learn more on the importance of inclusion and respect when providing end-of-life care in hospitals
- Emergency Department End-of-Life Care
- 40-45 minutes
- Outlines opportunities for end-of-life conversations and advance care planning in fast-paced clinical environments
- Paediatric End-of-Life Care
- 35-40 minutes
- Recognising the centrality of families and the intricacies around decision-making in paediatric end-of-life care
Accreditation and Management
Learn more about the significance of the National Safety and Quality Health Service Standards and quality end-of-life care.
- Meeting the Standards
- 25-30 minutes
- Whatever your role, this module aims to explain the Comprehensive Care Standard, as part of the National Safety and Quality Health Service Standards, focussed on end-of-life care
- Clinical Change Management
- 25-30 minutes
- Clinical change begins with having a good understanding of the hospital where you work, and the level of quality of end-of-life care
CPD Hours
Completion of End-of-Life Essentials modules may contribute to the Continuing Professional Development (CPD) requirements for allied health professionals. Please refer to the CPD requirements of the Physiotherapy Board of Australia.