Supporting People at the end of Life (1 Day)

Death is one area of the life process that support staff can often find very frightening; sometimes resulting in unhelpful and potentially distressing support being provided for the service user nearing the end of life.

This course aims to help participants understand the factors that are likely to be supportive and appropriate for someone in the final phases of their life; how to respond to very particular needs and how to look after themselves and fellow workers during what could a be an extremely sad and stressful experience.

Learning objectives:

By the end of this course participants should understand:

• What it might be like to be in the final stages of life
• The challenge for the support worker to experience and demonstrate empathy with an experience we have not had
• How this stage of life is regarded within a diverse range of cultures and religions
• The work of Elizabeth Kubler Ross
• Other models
• Principles of Good Practice:
        -Dignity
        -respect
        -privacy
        -choice
• The various roles and responsibilities
• The limitations of the role of the support worker
• Defining the needs:
        -Physical
        -Social
        -psychological
        -Spiritual
• Designing a care package for this phase of life
• How to work in a Person Centred way
• How to respond to distress and when this becomes incompatible with the role
• How to ensure that support is individualised and takes account of:
        -Culture
        -Religion
        -Sexuality
        -Ethnicity
        etc.
• Practical help that might be given and how to do this in a way that affords maximum comfort
• The support that others might require during the terminal stages of someone’s life (Partner, family, friends etc)
• How to establish and maintain a standard when the person cannot involve themselves in their care/make choices
• The role of advocacy
• What would be required of the worker after a death (supported by the organisation's policy and procedures) from a
  specific cultural and religious viewpoint:
        -The body
        -The person’s room
        -The person’s personal effects
        -Money being held
        etc.
• Dangers in not following procedures
• What can we learn from the hospice movement
• The importance of a team approach
• The need to take care of ourselves and avoid burnout
• After death-the responsibilities

Training methods:

• Discussion
• Tutor presentations
• OHP/PowerPoint
• Video
• Group work
• Handouts
• Questionnaire

CP38/4.9