End of Life Care: Planning, Information and Discussion*

This class is intended as basic information about health decisions that people and their loved ones commonly make near the end of their lives. It is geared toward public librarians and other information providers who work with the public, but everyone is welcome. This is an online, asynchronous class offered in Moodle. Asynchronous means that you’ll work at your own pace until the end-date of the class.

Learning Objectives:

Upon completion of this class, participants will be able to:

1. Locate information about end-of-life care, hospice, palliative care, and comfort care from reliable information resources, particularly MedlinePlus and the NIH’s National Institute on Aging.
2. Explain the differences and similarities between end-of-life care situations and scenarios like in-home care, skilled nursing facilities, hospice facilities, withdrawal of life support, and medical aid in dying.
3. Explain the purposes of advance directives, DNR orders, power of attorney for health care, and other legal documents related to decisions about end-of-life care.
4. Conduct conversations about end-of-life care, respecting people’s emotions as well as their moral, ethical, and religious beliefs surrounding life and death.
5. Apply ethical and legal restrictions in discussing end-of-life care issues, particularly in declining to provide advice on medical and legal topics that the course touches on.
6. Explain issues and information needs affecting family caregivers of people nearing the end of their lives.

Agenda:

Week 1: Aging and the Endo of  Life (readings, discussion questions, Assignment on selecting information resources)

Week 2: Conversations about End-of-Life Care (Review of planning documents, Assignment on holding a reference conversation)

Week 3: The Needs of Caregivers (Readings, knowledge check, Final Assignment: Strategies for Educating Our Communities)

MLA CE Credit: 3