Syllabus

• Week 1

  Easing Non-Pain Symptoms in Palliative Care Introduction

  • Introduction to Common Symptoms and Anorexia

    People living with serious illness often have more than five non-pain symptoms, like loss of appetite, dyspnea, weakness, confusion and many others.

  • Routine Symptom Assessment

    A number of symptom assessment tools have been developed, tested and evaluated. We will briefly review two common ones.

  • Challenges in Symptom Screening and Assessment

    There are some specific challenges that we need to be aware of in symptom assessment and screening. One, patients may downplay or under report symptoms. Two, language in culture can be a barrier. Three, whose symptom is it?

  • Anorexia and Cachexia

    In this activity, you will learn about the common symptom of anorexia and cachexia.

  • Let's Talk About it. Addressing Concerns of Patients and Family About Anorexia

    When you understand anorexia you are able to look for reversible causes, support patient and family emotional distress, and offer practical help to manage this problem.

  • Screening for Anorexia and Weight Loss

    It is much better to prevent or slow weight loss than trying to reverse the weight loss once it has occurred. So, screening and being proactive is important.

  • What to do? Helping People Eat More

    There are many ways to encourage people to eat more, such as, getting up and out of bed and sitting at the table with others, offering more frequent smaller portions, offering easy to swallow foods, and more.

  • What Else Could Be The Problem?

    We have looked at issues such as pain and weakness, contributing to not feeling well overall. During symptom assessment, you'll pick up on these symptoms and work to help people feel better.

  • A Pill That Makes You Eat and Gain Weight

    No one treatment is likely to help everyone, but there are some medications that may aid in gaining weight.

  • Introduction to Common Symptoms and Anorexia Assessment

    Review Learning Objectives

• Week 2

  Shortness of Breath Dyspnea

  • Introduction To Dyspnea

    This activity will discuss Dyspnea. A common symptom experienced by many patients with chronic life-limiting illness.

  • What Does It Feel Like?

    In this activity, we'll talk about what it feels like to be short of breath. We will also discuss other symptoms that may happen with shortness of breath, or what we call dyspnea.

  • Managing Dyspnea

    Treatment for Dyspnea, or shortness of breath, is different for each person, and depends on the cause of the shortness of breath, how severe the disease is, the type of symptoms they have and how long they’ve been present.

  • Lifestyle Changes

    In this activity, we're going to talk about some ways you can help others to pace themselves and slow down, encouraging them to use energy slowly over the day instead of all at once will help them feel less tired.

  • A Conversation Between Martha, Rhonda, and Elizabeth

    Learn more about Martha Sturdivant’s story and case study: A Focus on Interstitial Pulmonary Fibrosis.

  • Introduction to Fatigue

    During this activity, you learn about the physical symptom of asthenia, also called fatigue. Fatigue and weakness are seen in almost all people living with serious illness.

  • We All Need To Speak The Same Language About Fatigue

    It's helpful to understand what someone means by fatigue, are they talking about feeling tired, getting exhausted with minimal effort, feeling mentally tired or physically being weak. It might be a combination of problems.

  • Why Am I So Fatigued?

    The reason a person is feeling fatigued is in part due to medications, depression, anemia and several other problems.

  • Polypharmacy

    Many medicines can contribute to fatigue, because they have some sedating properties. Adding several of these medications together will make someone feel very sleepy and fatigued.

  • How Bad Is Your Fatigue?

    To help with developing a treatment plan for fatigue, it's helpful to ask questions to help assess the degree of fatigue, associated distress and the impact on activities.

  • What Can We Do?

    The basic idea is if you only have a small amount of energy, where is it best used? What are less important things that you could stop spending energy on?

  • Medications for Fatigue

    Medicines can play an important role in select patients. Counseling and medications are more effective in treating the depression than either method alone, a trial of medication for depression may be helpful.

  • Weakness and Fatigue Assessment

    Review Learning Objectives

• Week 3

  Cognitive Impairment and NVC Introduction

  • Cognitive Impairment Introduction

    Cognitive impairment involves a deteriorating process in the brain including perception, memory, judgment, and reasoning.

  • Types of Cognitive Impairment

    Dementia is one example of cognitive impairment. Learn more about the different types of dementia here.

  • Normal Aging

    Many changes in our ability to think are considered a normal part of aging. Just as how our brains continue to develop through our youth, our brain function also declines as does in other body systems over time.

  • Delirium

    Delirium is a set of symptoms caused by something else happening in our body. It is treatable and reversible, but it must be recognized before care can take place.

  • Near Death Awareness

    Near death awareness refers to the dying person's experiences of the dying process. Near death awareness concerns those traveling toward death.

  • Caregiver Burden

    The role of a caregiver can be complex, stressful, and costly. The responsibility of a caregiver can cause both physical and mental stress.

  • Key Points

    Let's summarize the key takeaways of cognitive impairment.

  • Cognitive Impairment Assessment

    Review Learning Objectives

  • Nausea, Constipation, and Vomiting Introduction and NVC

    Nausea, vomiting, and constipation are frequent symptoms among patients with advanced illness. The aim of this lecture is to review how these symptoms occur and how they can be treated from a palliative care perspective.

  • What Makes People Vomit?

    There are signals sent by areas of the body that can cause someone to vomit. Learn more about how these signals can cause vomiting in an individual.

  • Treatments for Nausea and Vomiting

    Everyone at some point has experienced nausea and vomiting. Let's explore the various treatments that may help relieve these symptoms.

  • Constipation

    Constipation is a subjective meaning and can be a unique experience for everyone. For the human body to produce a normal bowel movement, there needs to be the right proportion of internal movement and lubrication.

  • Nausea, Vomiting, and Constipation Assessment

    Review Learning Objectives

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