Palliative and End of Life Care MSc

This module is designed for all healthcare and allied professionals that support patients with life limiting illness, including: doctors, nurses, health care managers, medical students, medical and pharmaceutical researchers, radiographers, health care educators, chaplains, medical volunteers, hospice personnel and social workers.

Palliative Care is a global issue and is a core skill for all health care professionals. Due to changes in disease and demographic profiles, all areas of healthcare and all health carers will necessarily engage with patients with palliative care needs. The Lancet Commission Report of 2017 "Alleviating the access abyss in palliative care and pain relief" identifies that almost half of the global deaths each year require palliative care input. The limited and inequitable spread of palliative care results in excess of six billion hours of serious health related suffering. As recognised by the World Health Organisation health care professionals should be competent and confident in applying the principles of Palliative Care “… training and continuing education on Palliative Care should be integrated as a routine element of, all undergraduate medical and nursing professional education, and as part of in-service training of caregivers at the primary care level.”(WHO, 2014)

The module provides opportunities for health and allied care professionals to engage, understand and develop the skills required to provide effective, evidenced based approaches to managing the needs of patients, and their families, with life limiting illness. The module does this by providing a range of educational modalities to ensure a comprehensive overview and practicable engagement with the learning materials. In addition, the module also meets nationally defined Competencies in Practice for the doctors training in general internal Medicine, Care of the Elderly and for most medical specialities.

In addition to traditional teaching approaches led by national and international academic and clinical experts, this module engages experiential learning to explore the challenges of clinical communication within this field. The integrated two-day Advanced Communication Skills Workshop is a core activity and learning is further supported by electronic self-directed learning opportunities. Students are encouraged to bring their own clinical experience into the discussion forums that examine clinical cases on pain and symptom management, ethical issues in decision making, psychosocial care and the effects of policy upon practice.

A week’s structured observational clinical placement is offered to national/international students within a specialist palliative care unit. The placement is structured to both challenge and consolidate learning within the module.

Teaching will be led from the Academic Palliative and End of Life Care Centre, Liverpool, and from the International Collaborative for Best Care for the Dying Person: the Centre is the lead site for the Collaborative, which brings together multidisciplinary practitioners in palliative and end of life care from 24 countries, who wish to build the evidence base for best care for dying patients through collaborative knowledge transfer, clinical excellence, research, service innovation and quality improvement.

Liverpool’s School of Medicine is ideally located for access to some of the UK’s leading specialist clinical units. Students will also benefit from the expertise within the Faculty of Health and Life Sciences research institutes teaching and research links with the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, and surrounding medical institutions.

On successful completion of this module you will achieve 30 academic credits at M Level (7).

This module will provide students with the opportunity to explore and understand ethical problems and theories, to enhance their ethical reasoning skills and to develop a series of research skills and professional behaviours in the fields of clinical ethics and in ethical decision-making processes.

This module is designed to help students to comprehend different perspectives: the ethical decisions for healthcare staff; patients’ perspectives on ‘ethical care’ and patients’ moral commitments to their immediate environments (families, other chains of care); institutional levels of care and the ethics of resource allocation; duty of care towards the research subjects; as well as ethical suggestions and contributions towards improving present health care practices.

There are two linked assessments: a 15 min. presentation 30%. (about a relevant regulation/policy/law and the underpinning ethical principles) and a case study report (a case from a national or international healthcare practice, critically reviewed from an ethical perspective) (3000 words).

Liverpool’s School of Medicine is ideally located for access to some of the UK’s leading specialist clinical units. Students will have the advantage of being taught by ethicists together with clinical experts in hospitals such as Alder Hey Children’s Hospital, The Palliative Care Institute Liverpool, Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital, and The Walton Centre, the UK’s only specialist hospital trust dedicated to neurological services. Students also benefit from the expertise within the Faculty of Health and Life Sciences research institutes teaching and research links with the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, and surrounding medical institutions.

This module is designed primarily for healthcare professionals (doctors, nurses, health care managers, medical students, medical and pharmaceutical researchers, radiographers, health care educators, chaplains, medical volunteers, hospice personnel and social workers) but it is also accessible for students with interest in medical ethics.

This module provides the opportunity to develop critical understanding of contemporary end-of-life care provision. This module is designed for all health and social care professionals who support patients, and their families, at the end of life, including: doctors, nurses, social workers, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, health care managers, medical students, medical and pharmaceutical researchers, health care educators, chaplains, volunteers and hospice personnel.

Palliative Care is a global issue. Caring for patients and their families at the end of life is increasingly recognised as a core skill for all health and social care professionals, including those associated with the organisation and delivery of services. The challenges in providing and accessing appropriate End of Life Care are well documented. The World Health Organisation Atlas https://www.who.int/nmh/Global_Atlas_of_Palliative_Care.pdf estimate that 20.4 million people with chronic illness require meaningful End of Life Care, and the Lancet Commission Report https://www.thelancet.com/commissions/palliative-care estimate that in the recorded deaths of 2015, 45% of patients experienced significant health related suffering.

Within the UK, the General Medical Council (www.gmc-uk.org/ethical-guidance/ethical-guidance-for-doctors/treatment-and-care-towards-the-end-of-life) and the Royal College of Nursing (www.rcn.org.uk/clinical-topics/end-of-life-care) outline the challenges, core skills and importance of considered, evidence based care at the end of life, forming the basis for the focus within this module. In addition, a key aim within this module is to consider the role of policy, examine key issues relating to societal engagement and explore the impact of national strategies on end-of-life care provision.

The module uses a blended approach to learning engaging a mix of online and classroom-based activities, encouraging both critical reflection and examination of clinical management and organisational practise. National and international academic and clinical experts lead teaching, with participation from the Academic Palliative and End of Life Care Centre, Liverpool, and from the International Collaborative for Best Care for the Dying Person. The Centre is the lead site for the Collaborative, which brings together multidisciplinary practitioners in palliative and end of life care from 24 countries, who wish to build the evidence base for best care for dying patients through collaborative knowledge transfer, clinical excellence, research, service innovation and quality improvement.

Liverpool’s School of Medicine is ideally located for access to some of the UK’s leading specialist clinical units. Students will also benefit from the expertise within the Faculty of Health and Life Sciences research institutes teaching and research links with the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, and surrounding medical institutions.

On successful completion of this module you will achieve 30 academic credits at M Level (7).

This module will enable students to develop and then apply their understanding of the research process. Students will develop the ability to assess and appraise the design, development, data collection and analysis of research within health and social science, and critically apply this knowledge in the to design of high quality research proposals appropriate for Masters / Level 7 study.

This 30-credit module is aimed at those who have little experience of research and are looking to prepare for a Masters level research project. Students will engage critically with the ‘the research journey’; from conception of an idea and formation of a Research Question, the theoretical underpinning of approaches to research, study design and approvals, data collection and analysis, and study reporting. The module will then examine the role of Clinical Trial Centres and Research Design Support services in the development of advanced study design (e.g. clinical trials, complex interventions), and subsequently examine in greater depth theory and application of advanced levels of qualitative and quantitative study design and data analysis.

This module will have a flexible delivery to allow for maximum student engagement across programmes. It will be delivered online, on-campus, or a combination of the two across the semester. Students will need to opt into one of the delivery patterns prior to starting the module. It is supported by interactive lectures/audio-visual presentations, quizzes and case-based tutorials and interactive discussion boards.

The module content will be taught by a range of experts from across the Health and Life Science Faculty presenting students with experts within their field of interest and across specialities thereby giving students a breadth of exposure to research at The University of Liverpool.

There are four summative assessments within this module, structured to cumulatively build the students critical skills:

1. Critique of a Research Article (2,000 words)
2. Data Analysis Activity: Qualitative and Quantitative Analysis Exercise (1,000 words)
3. Presentation – Study Protocol Critique: Students will present and critique an outline study protocol. (15 Minute Presentation).
4. Study Protocol: Students will develop a robust project protocol amenable for a Masters level project. (2,000 words).

The assessments can be tailored to focus on the students area of interest and area of speciality.

The assessments can be tailored to focus on the students area of interest.

This module is designed for the research project element of Master’s level programmes of study within the Faculty of Health and Life Sciences. It is designed for students undertaking clinical projects and those that are appropriate to scientists and healthcare professionals within the subject area of their Master’s programme. These might include new graduates in the fields of health and science, doctors, nurses, allied health professionals, health care managers, medical students, medical and pharmaceutical researchers, and other related non-medical personnel.

Students have the opportunity to explore a wide range of scientific and applied medical topics previously covered during the core modules and to plan and execute a research project and then to learn how to communicate it to a scientific audience in the form of a scientific poster and a journal article. This module will allow students to understand the process of dissemination of research findings, which will be supported by a supervisor.

In order to accommodate different professional and personal needs, the module has a flexible, online or on-campus structure dependent on the research project. This will be an independent piece of work carried out by the student with support from a named supervisor. Support will also be provided by peer support sessions and assessment support sessions prior to submission, and group lectures and seminars will form the basis of the taught element at the beginning of the module.

Students will further develop their digital skills in the virtual learning environment to explore their research area.

Students will produce a piece of written work that is based on the research project or a systematically structured literature review. The assessment of this module is i) a written journal paper, 5000 words (60%), ii) an individual poster, equivalent to 2500 words, 20%, and iii) an individual oral presentation, c. 15 mins, 20%.

Contributions to teaching and supervision will be from key clinical and research areas and where appropriate cross-Faculty to ensure research informed teaching. Students will benefit from the wide range of research expertise within the Faculty of Health and Life Sciences research institutes, teaching and research links with the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine and other institutions. The University is ideally located for access to some of the UK’s leading specialist clinical units with clinical experts in hospitals such as Alder Hey Children’s Hospital, The Palliative Care Institute Liverpool, Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital, and The Walton Centre, the UK’s only specialist hospital trust dedicated to neurological services.