Course Summary

Human comfort, dignity, and a sense of peace are the ideal outcomes of both palliative and hospice care. Palliative care focuses on providing patients with serious illnesses an optimal quality of life to alleviate both the physical pain and the emotional stress caused by the illness. Hospice care is focused on maximizing the quality of life for those in the final stages of a serious illness. Members of the interdisciplinary health team have key roles in both palliative and hospice care settings where end-of-life needs are being met.

Course Format

Homestudy

Course Syllabus

• Introduction
• Palliative and Hospice Approaches to Holistic Care
  • Interdisciplinary Health Team Approach
• Palliative Care: Multidimensional
  • Physical Care and Pain Control
  • Pain Medication Types and Palliative Sedation
  • Common Physical Treatment
• Promoting Independence in Palliative Patients
  • Rehabilitation
  • Surgical Procedures
  • Emotional and Spiritual Care
• Hospice Care: End of Life
  • A Brief History of Hospice Care
  • Course of Care
  • End-of-Life and Death
  • Respite and Caregiver Support
  • Bereavement Counseling
• Case Studies: Pediatric Palliative Care
  • Case 1: 15-year-old Female
  • Case 2: 18-month Child
• Summary

Authors

Noah H. Carpenter, MD

Dr. Noah Carpenter is a Thoracic and Peripheral Vascular Surgeon. He completed his Bachelor of Science in chemistry and medical school and training at the University of Manitoba. Dr. Carpenter completed surgical residency and fellowship at the University of Edmonton and Affiliated Hospitals in Edmonton, Alberta, and an additional Adult Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery fellowship at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland. He has specialized in microsurgical techniques, vascular endoscopy, laser and laparoscopic surgery in Brandon, Manitoba and Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada and in Colorado, Texas, and California. Dr. Carpenter has an Honorary Doctorate of Law from the University of Calgary, and was appointed a Citizen Ambassador to China, and has served as a member of the Indigenous Physicians Association of Canada, the Canadian College of Health Service Executives, the Science Institute of the Northwest Territories, Canada Science Council, and the International Society of Endovascular Surgeons, among others. He has been an inspiration to youth, motivating them to understand the importance of achieving higher education.

Susan Depasquale, MA, MSN, PMHNP-BC

Susan DePasquale is a board certified Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner. Her current practice is with families, youth and adults who have mental illnesses in both inpatient and outpatient settings, including telepsychiatry for Montana, Washington and Wisconsin communities. She completed her Masters of Art in Political Science at the University of Victoria, British Columbia, Masters of Science in Nursing at Seattle Pacific University in Seattle, Washington with a focus in neurogastroenterology and the Post-Masters of Science in Nursing at the Montana State University in Bozeman, Montana with a focus in psychiatry. She has worked with small and rural healthcare teams in British Columbia and the Northwest Territories, Canada, and in teaching and research hospitals such as Providence Health and Virginia Mason Medical Center Digestive and Liver Disease Departments in Seattle. Since 2012, she has been actively involved in online continuing education program development for nurses and health teams.