Advanced Practice in Palliative and End of Life Care for Children and Young People
This module provides students with opportunities to critically examine the evidence base and develop and enhance knowledge and expertise for practice in the care of children and young people (CYP) and their families, with complex palliative and end of life care needs.
A key element within the module is the opportunity for students to examine and reflect upon individual, clinical and organisational practices relating to palliative and end of life care. Students will also critically examine the influence and impact of national discussion and strategy within this area.
Module delivery
The module will be delivered part time, with the module delivered in one semester.
The module will initially run in semester one. A blended approach to learning, involving a combination of classroom and online based activities will be used to deliver the module. 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.
Key dates and application information
- Apply by: July 31st 2025
- Module start date: September 25th 2025
- Module end date: 20th December 2025
- Module cost: £1950.
Please note - this module is limited to 15 spaces only.
Who is the module for?
This module has been designed for all healthcare professionals including doctors, nurses, and allied professionals (AHP) who support babies, children and young people with life limiting or life-threatening illnesses and their families, It aims to provide students with the opportunity to develop a critical understanding of contemporary palliative and end-of-life care provision for children and young people. The module provides students with opportunities to critically examine the evidence base and develop and enhance their knowledge and expertise to deliver high-quality care, including how to assess, treat, and direct patient care for complex palliative and end of life issues in children and young people, and their families.
The module is a standalone option and can be used to support continuous professional development and can be linked to: Post Graduate Certificate (60 Credits); Post Graduate Diploma (120 Credits); Masters (180 Credits).
Module details and indicative content
The module will also include a two-day workshop of advanced communication skills training specifically designed for CYP professionals. The workshop uses experiential learning to enable students to explore and examine complex communication-related topics using actor-based, simulated patient scenarios.
The module will incorporate the following areas:
• Attitudes to dying, death and bereavement, including societal engagement
• Clinical management of neonates, children and young people requiring end-of-life care
• Clinical management of symptoms commonly experienced by dying children and young people
• Psychosocial, cultural and spiritual aspects of dying and death
• Spiritual care at the end-of-life
• An introduction to ethical considerations in end-of-life care, including clinically assisted hydration and nutrition, sedation, euthanasia and clinically assisted suicide
• Recognising dying
• Service organisation and delivery
• End of life care strategy
• Multidisciplinary team and multi-agency working in end-of-life care
• Continuous quality improvement programmes relating to end-of-life care
• Research and end of life care
• End of Life Care Models
• Theories and principles of loss, grief and bereavement.
How you are assessed
The summative assessments for this module consist of three assessments in two components, using the students’ own professional experience.
1) An Oral Presentation (15 Minutes), enabling the students to focus on an aspect of End-of-Life Care relevant to their clinical practice and illustrating principles covered in the module (20%);
2) Two 1,500-word written Case History reviews, enabling critical reflection on the practice and policies that shape End of Life Care.
These linked assessments build on the core learning within the module and provide students with the opportunity to focus on areas of interest specific to their clinical practice.