Professional Development

Problem Solving in Paediatric Palliative Care

A Masters level short course in paediatric palliative care. This course is organised by Cardiff University in collaboration with Ty Hafan Children’s Hospice and the All Wales Managed Clinical Network for Children’s Palliative Care.

This course is run face to face at Ty Hafan, Cardiff. Each session runs from 09:00 - 16:30. The course also involves independent study in between the live taught days, which is designed for you complete at a time to suit your schedule.

Who it’s for

The course is open to physicians, nurses, psychologists, therapists and other professionals working with children.

It is also suitable if you are interested in end-of-life/palliative care or have a commitment to implementation and dissemination of paediatric end-of-life/palliative care education within your institution or organisation.

What you’ll learn

Our vision is to improve patient care by delivering accessible education, through which we aim to support health-care professionals to problem solve in paediatric palliative care, whatever your setting or area of interest.

The course is split into two main sections – four live taught days (each a month apart) and a virtual learning environment to support reading, project development and discussion between taught days.

Topics covered

• early days: principals and philosophy of paediatric palliative care, identification of need, referral to services, assessment
• period of stability/need for parallel planning (includes symptom control)
• end-of-life phase including Paediatric Advance Care plan (PAC-Plan)
• bereavement and staff support

How the course is taught

This is a well established programme; face to face sessions tend to follow this structure (but please note that this may change slightly for each programme).

Morning session

Skills and knowledge: a combination of programme facilitators and external speakers.

Afternoon session

Project workshop: structured session utilising group approach to problem solving on individual projects.

Teaching themes:

Month one: Early days: principles and philosophy of paediatric palliative care, identification of need, referral to services, assessment.

Month two: Period of stability / need for parallel planning (includes symptom control).

Month three: End-of-life phase including advanced care planning.

Month four: Bereavement and staff support.

The face to face sessions are designed to introduce you to concepts that are not easily taught through a VLE, including ethical challenges, decision making, communication skills and problem solving.

Benefits

You will benefit from increased knowledge and confidence when caring for patients with paediatric palliative care needs.

Reflection on communication skills strategies and ethical frameworks underlying practice will enhance your clinical and professional performance. The workshop element will support you to concentrate on issues specific to your own team or setting, thus benefiting clinical services.

Throughout the taught stages there are opportunities to acquire knowledge and understanding through a variety of means including independent study, reflective practice, peer discussion, workshops and tasks/exercises, communication skills practice and self-assessment, reviewing learning materials and lectures.

Core programme team

Dr Jo Griffiths - Dr Griffiths is the lead paediatric tutor and module lead of Postgraduate Palliative Care Education at Cardiff University. She works as a consultant in children’s palliative care in Wales, working closely with both NHS and hospice sectors.

Dr Fiona Rawlinson - Dr Rawlinson is Clinical Senior Lecturer, Reader and Programme Director of Postgraduate Palliative Care Education at Cardiff University, and Consultant in palliative care, Cardiff. Her main interests are palliative care, medical education, innovation and collaboration.

Location