Palliative Care   

This course will provide an overview of Palliative Care and coping with death, dying and grief.  The focus is to provide you with a review of the concepts of Palliative Care, the interdisciplinary team, hospice care, current approaches to care, and roles, issues and expectations of those working in Palliative Care.  Identify what resources are available and discuss home care vs. institutional care. Textbook required.

This course will focus on communication with individuals with a life-limiting illness, their families and significant others. Topics include: basic process and steps of effective communication, factors influencing personal and cultural attitudes in communication, identifying basic verbal and non-verbal communication, self-care for palliative care providers, and identifying challenges and facilitators to effective communication in palliative care. No textbook required.

This course is designed to enable students to develop a basic understanding of psychological and social implications in oncology and palliative care patients and their families throughout the trajectory of the illness experience. Topics to be explored include psychological distress, suffering, factors affecting coping and helping relationships, the grief journey, the role of culture, social changes during illness, end-of-life tasks, planning for death, burnout, and caring for caregivers. Textbook required.

The focus will be on comfort measures for the terminally ill patient.  There will be an emphasis placed on promoting a realistic independence for the client based on his/her support systems.Textbook required.

This course will provide an overview of ethical, legal and spiritual issues in palliative care. Death and dying in relation to various life stages and cultural influences will be explored. No textbook required.

In this course, students will examine the physiological, psychological, social and spiritual changes that affect aging adults, with the aim to prepare individuals working in retirement community facilities to support the provision of ethical, responsible care that enables residents to live well. Topics will include the caregiving landscape in Canada, and physiological and psychological changes, both typical and atypical, that affect aging adults, including common health problems and cognitive illnesses. Additional topics will inculde spirituality, mental health, life planning, changing requirements for physical activity, and wellness and health promotion measures. No textbook required.