Health & Human Services, Enrichment, and Business and Management Enrichment Health and Human Services Business & Management

Certificate Program in End-of-Life Care

COURSE CANCELED

As America ages and baby boomers continue to impact our culture, there is a high demand for good quality of life throughout all stages of life. This increasingly includes end-of-life as individuals share the dying experience with their parents and face it themselves. There is an expectation of a compassionate and responsive environment to complement the high level of medical expertise. In this certificate program, we will examine ways to improve end-of-life care which can have a profound effect on the well-being of the person who is dying, family and friends, and clinical staff involved in providing care.

Throughout the program, we will explore end-of-life care both professionally and personally. We will investigate the intricacies of communication with and around the dying person, the relief of physical and mental suffering, how our own emotions play a significant role in the effectiveness of our clinical practice, and how we can improve the quality of end-of-life care within our own facilities and organizations.

Program objectives include:

  • increasing personal comfort with end-of-life issues and care
  • increasing awareness and knowledge about the relief of suffering
  • improving quality of life at end-of-life for individuals and families by changing practice behavior
  • understanding the challenges to quality end-of-life care
  • learning to be an advocate

Emphasis is placed on:

  • recognizing the importance of addressing end-of-life care from personal, professional, and societal perspectives
  • respecting and responding to suffering as a multidimensional experience
  • the importance of quality outcomes
  • communicating with empathy and clarity
  • recognizing the importance of diversity (in its broadest sense) and its many implications for end-of-life care
  • the value of approaching care from an interdisciplinary perspective

Participants and instructors will explore:

  • grief and loss
  • conversations with the dying
  • pain and symptom management
  • ethics
  • complementary therapies
  • family dynamics and boundaries
  • personal death awareness
  • the interdisciplinary team process
  • issues of quality
  • the cost of care

This program provides an opportunity for in-depth professional development and intense personal exploration around the issues of end-of-life and end-of-life care. It is divided into five modules and is facilitated by Kandyce Powell, RN, M.S.N., executive director of the Maine Hospice Council.

Module 1: Dying in America/Grief and Loss/BOATING. Instructors: Kandyce Powell, RN, MSN, Executive Director, Maine Hospice Council; and the cast of the play B.O.A.T.I.N.G. Date: Monday, October 19.

Module 2: Conversations with the Dying/The Cost of Care/ The Spiritual Dimension/Self-care. Instructors: Arlene Wing, RN,MHSA, Hospice Director, Andriscoggin Home Care and Hospice; Deborah Clague, LMSW, LMT, EMT Franklin Health Network Kandyce Powell, RN, MSN. Date: Monday, October 26.

Module 3: Pain Management & Prognostication/Symptom Management & Complementary Responses. Instructors: Thomas Keating, M.D., Karen Flynn, BSN, RN-CHPN,Hospice House Director, Androscoggin Home Care and Hospice; Kandyce Powell, RN, MSN. Date: Monday, November 2.

Module 4: Personal Death Awareness/Family Dynamics and Boundaries. Instructors: Richard Hall, D. Min.Licensed Pastoral Counselor, Deborah Alpern, LCSW, OSW-C, director Palliative and Supportive Care Program, Mid Coast Hospital, Kandyce Powell, RN, MSN. Date: Monday, November 9.

Module 5: Interdisciplinary Teams/Ethics/Practical Application. Instructors: Kandyce Powell, RN, MSN, Patricia Eye, RN Co-Director, New Hope Hospice; Date: Monday, November 16.

Entire program cost is $765.00 Modules 1, 2 and 3 may be taken individually for $165/module. Please CALL 207-780-5900 to register for single modules.

Target audience: health and human services professionals, clergy, hospice volunteers, and others interested in improving end-of-life care.

Deb Alpern, LCSW, OSW-C specializes in palliative and supportive care of people hospitalized with life-threatening or advanced illnesses. Deb is Director of The Palliative and Supportive Care Program at Mid Coast Hospital, a member of the Ethics Committee, the Palliative Care Advisory Committee and the Pastoral Care Committee.

Patricia Eye, RN, Co-Director, New Hope Hospice

Dick Hall, D.Min., Licensed Pastoral Counselor

Kandyce Powell, R.N., M.S.N., is executive director of the Maine Hospice Council, which provides education and advocacy to improve the quality of life for the dying and bereaved. She serves on and provides leadership to many advisory groups, including the Maine Cancer Pain Initiative, the Bureau of Health's Palliative Care Workgroup, and the New England Nursing Ethics Network.


5 Mondays, October 19-November 16, 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m.

Registration has ended. Please browse courses for future offerings of this course.

$765 (34 contact hours/ 3.4 CEUs)
Abromson Center, 88 Bedford Street, USM Portland campus