Palliative Approaches to Symptom Assessment and Management in Advanced Illness

This 15-credit Level 7 module explores the principles and practice of palliative care, focusing on the assessment and management of symptoms in advanced illness. Students will critically evaluate evidence-based interventions for managing pain, gastrointestinal symptoms, palliative emergencies, and care in the last days of life. Through interdisciplinary teaching and reflective practice, learners will develop the confidence to apply palliative approaches in complex community and clinical settings. The module is delivered through a blend of lectures, workshops, seminars, and guided self-directed study.

Who is it for?

This module is designed for healthcare professionals who want to develop specialist knowledge and skills in providing assessment and management of symptoms caused by malignant and non-malignant conditions encountered in the palliative care of adults.

Timetable

Teaching is delivered through a combination of in-person, online synchronous, and asynchronous activities over 5 days:

Benefits

Gain 15 Level 7 credits while developing specialist skills in palliative symptom assessment and management; essential for community and hospital nursing practice.

Content outline

• Principles and practice of palliative care; including patient assessment within a palliative care context
• Assessment, management, and treatment of pain
• Assessment and management of gastrointestinal tract symptoms; including, nausea, vomiting, constipation, diarrhoea, bowel obstruction and oral problems
• Assessment and management of palliative care emergencies and difficult symptoms; including superior vena cava obstruction, spinal cord compression, metabolic disturbances, haemorrhage and other difficult symptoms
• Care in the last days of life; including diagnosing dying, promoting a good death, and managing common symptoms in the last days of life, taking into consideration, ethical, cultural and spiritual challenges

An interdisciplinary teaching team will facilitate your learning through a variety of methods including lectures, workshops, self-directed learning, online activities, structured group work and seminars

Module lecturers will be academic staff from the School of Health Sciences and there will be a range of external visiting lecturers and guest speakers, including practitioners and service users, bringing a variety of perspectives.

You will gain subject knowledge and understanding from individual reading and research, tutor guidance and peer group support. Taught sessions are supplemented by guided and self-directed study that will enable you to gain a deeper understanding of the material covered in the module. In the guided and self-directed study you will pursue topics which are of particular interest to you in greater depth, will apply your learning from the module to your professional role and context, and reflect on your learning and its application to your own personal and professional development needs.

For your summative assessment you will be required to develop a 3000-word case analysis which reflects the assessment and management of symptoms(s) using a palliative care approach.

Students who successfully complete this module will be awarded with 15 credits at level 7.

Credits

This course is worth 15 credits toward eligible programmes.

Applicants should be a registered healthcare professional with experience in clinical practice in either a health and/or social care setting.

Familiarity with palliative care principles and a commitment to reflective, person-centred care are beneficial.

English requirements

For those students whose first language is not English the following qualification is also required:

• IELTS: 7.0

• Frankl, V. E. (2004) Man's Search for Meaning: : The classic tribute to hope from the Holocaust. Perseus Publishing. Massachusetts
• Lewis, C. (1969) A Grief Observed. Faber and Faber, London
• Earle, S., Komaromy, C. & Bartholomew GC. (2009) Death and Dying: A Reader. Open Univerisy Press. Milton Keynes