We have reached a milestone in our Strengthen Your Core online education program – more than 1,000 learners have registered for the Domain 1 module, Principles of palliative care and a palliative approach.
The Strengthen Your Core program is a series of online modules covering the eight core competency domains of the BCCPC Interprofessional Competency Framework. They were created to fill the gap for introductory palliative education for an interprofessional audience. The training modules are short, accessible to anyone and flexible. Once a learner has completed the first module, they have their choice of which training module (Domains 2-8) to do next.
As introductory education for those not specialized in palliative care, one of our key goals was a wide reach … and with more than 1000 registrants, that goal has certainly been met.
Here’s a look at where our learners come from:
Care settings Numerous care settings are represented in addition to palliative care units and hospice such as home and community care, First Nations and Metis communities, long-term care, acute care, pediatrics, critical care, emergency, surgery, and rehabilitation.
Health authorities Learners have come from every BC health authority, with the largest groups from Island Health (24%) and Fraser Health (23%). Many learners have come from private care providers as well.
Disciplines All the disciplines covered in the BCCPC competencies have taken the module (40% nurses, 21% HCAs, 6% psychsocial/spiritual, 2% physicians/NPs and a few volunteers). In addition, there have been a very wide variety of other disciplines including directors, educators, managers, child life specialists, administrative assistants, food service workers, pharmacists, paramedics, mental health and addictions workers, research assistants and housekeeping aides.
Students It is difficult to know the exact number or discipline of students because many are health authority employees as well. The number is at least 202 hailing from 29 different academic institutions. We have heard anecdotally that some schools are recommending or requiring these modules for student nurses.
Feedback on the module
What did you learn from the module that you would apply to your own practice?
- Incorporating palliative care earlier in disease progression
- How all HCPs can assist
- Using more of a team approach
- Person and family centred care
- Asking patient what is important to them
- Palliative care should be integrated in all settings
What feedback do you have to make this module more effective?
- good introduction to palliative care
- more videos or varied media would be good
- well laid out, quick, easy to understand and thorough
- showing quiz answers if answered incorrectly
- family is important but only if the patient wants this
Please let us know if you have any other comments or suggestions.
- overall, a great start to encouraging staff they we all play a part in supporting our patients and their families on their chronic illness trajectory
- should be shared with all long-term care homes
Further evaluation plans
Learners are required to do this module first, and then the modules for the remaining Domains 2-8 can be taken in any order. We hoped that most learners would take all 8 modules. However, the numbers for the remaining ones are much lower (ranging from 218-364).
This Fall, we will be conducting detailed data analysis to better understand why there are fewer learners for the remaining domains, the impact of these modules on practice and how best to continue the spread of the program.
Please email palliativeeducationnetwork@bc-cpc.ca to contribute to this evaluation by sharing your ideas and feedback on the modules.
