End of life care and wellbeing for the nursing and midwifery workforce
Welcome to the End of life care bitesize online learning.
This course is for members only. You can access the course by clicking the button below using your existing membership details (and bookmark this page for future use).
The following course will provide the participant with resources to support the delivery of end of life care to the dying person, their family and carers.
We also address the identification of the use of self-care mechanisms for the nursing and midwifery workforce, introducing coping strategies to promote self-health.
The course will introduce you to a set of resources which provide flexible and accessible learning resources which can be revisited at any time and accessed for their learning and development.
This is a developing course and more learning will become available over time.
User feedback
"I had very little knowledge about the topic and about how to behave with the dying person and their family. ..and this bitesize learning course definitely provided me with that. A very well structured course with a lot of tips from personal and professional experiences."
"The podcasts in particular were very informative and a brilliant way to share learning material."
"I found this course incredibly helpful for providing end of life care to my patients."
When navigating the end of life course, please use Google Chrome and not Internet Explorer.
Please note, due to the time taken for the Learning Management System to refresh its userbase, it may take up to 20 minutes after your first login to access the course.
The aims of the course are that upon completion of this course the participant will be able to:
1. Recognise the needs of the dying person and their family and carers to support dignified end of life care;
2. Identify and use self-care and coping strategies to promote self-health and well-being for the nursing and midwifery care workforce.
Participants will achieve the following learning outcomes at the end of the course:
For Aim 1, at the end of the course you will be able to:
- recognise and act upon the signs of deterioration in a person at the end of life;
- identify and apply decision making tools to prepare a person and their families for end of life;
- identify and apply relevant legislation and ethical frameworks underpinning advanced care planning;
- identify and apply the principles of sensitive communication styles and effective interpersonal interaction;
- understand and use different methods of undertaking difficult conversations at end of life;
- recognise and support the needs of families and carers of the dying person;
- recognise, assess and treat common physical and psychological symptoms at the end of life (breathlessness and noisy respirations, cough, delirium, anxiety, fear and agitation, fever, pain, hydration);
- understand the bereavement support systems in place for families and carers of the deceased patient
- identify signs of self-anxiety and stress
- identify different coping mechanisms (healthy and non healthy);
- develop and apply a range of self-care mechanisms
- identify what further psychological support may be required and how to access it.
The RCN value your feedback on our resources and would appreciate you filling in the short evaluation form at the end of the course. This will enable us to add relevant practice-based content to the course and ensure updates to provide the most current evidence based educational resources.
Useful resources
- RCN. Advance care planning
- End of Life Care Partners Think Tank. "What matters to me" video and "what matters" 2020 charter
- GOV UK. Guidance for care of the deceased with suspected or confirmed coronavirus
- Hospice UK. Special Edition of Care After Death: RN Verification of Expected Adult Death
- NI Direct. End of life care and palliative care
- Scottish Government. Death and end of life
- Welsh Government. Palliative and end of life care delivery plan 2017
Contact
onlinelearning@rcn.org.uk
Royal College of Nursing, 20 Cavendish Square, Room 207, London, W1G 0RN
COVID-19
Employment advice
- COVID-19 FAQs
- COVID-19 and vaccination
- COVID-19 and staffing levels
- Long COVID
- Employment guidance for NHS staff
- Individual risk assessments
- Nursing students & trainee nursing associates advice
- Personal protective equipment (PPE) advice
- Redeployment guidance
Clinical guidance
- Managing COVID-19
- COVID-19 vaccination
- Prescribing safely under COVID-19
- DNACPR & verification of death
- Mental health care delivery
Our work
- COVID-19 inquiry
- Our COVID-19 position statements
- Open letters
- Media statements
- Campaigning during COVID-19
Supporting you
Free online learning
End of life care
![Fundamentals of end of life care](https://uatamber.rcn.org.uk/-/media/Royal-College-Of-Nursing/Images/Signposts-Two-Thirds-700x170/Clinical-Topics/End-of-Life-Care/END-fundamentals.png?h=300&w=800&la=en&hash=CF377A818371EE1ADDEC1EA1C94B79E1)