Palliative Care

Code:

OPT5_20

Acronym:

CPL

Keywords
Classification	Keyword
OFICIAL	Medicine

Instance: 2019/2020 - 1S

Active?	Yes
Responsible unit:	Medical Teaching
Course/CS Responsible:	Integrated Masters Degree in Medicine

Cycles of Study/Courses

Acronym	No. of Students	Study Plan	Curricular Years	Credits UCN	Credits ECTS	Contact hours	Total Time
MIM	13	Official Study Plan	5	-	3	30	81

Teaching language

Portuguese

Objectives

Acquisition of Palliative Care knowledge in chronic oncological and non-oncological patients.

Learning outcomes and competences

• To know the philosophy and define the principles of palliative care.
• To state the general principles of symptoms control and use symptoms scales.
• To compare the symptomatic complexity between oncological and non-oncological patients. To understand the difficulties of establishing prognostic in non-malignant disease, and recognize the applicability of the palliative care methodology in chronic non- malignant disease.
• To recognize the communication barriers in terminally ill patient and their families and acquire skills to facilitate verbal and non-verbal communication, especially bad news.
• To recognize the pain main mechanisms; to evaluate and treat the pain according to the WHO pain scale.
• To identify and treat major respiratory symptoms (dyspnoea, cough, hemoptysis and suffocation) in chronic respiratory disease, heart failure and cancer.
• To recognize early major neuropsychological symptoms (delirium, confusion, insomnia, anxiety and depression), identifying their risk factors and understanding their therapeutic approach.
• To identify and treat major gastrointestinal disorders (nausea, vomiting, constipation, intestinal occlusion, cachexia and anorexia). To know how to apply oral care in terminally ill patients
• To know the nutrition and hydration principles in terminally ill patients including indications of enteric tubes and subcutaneous therapy (hypodermoclisis). Know which drugs can be used subcutaneously.
• To know the spiritual and religious needs of the patients.
• To recognize the terminal phase and know how to redefine the therapeutic objectives. 
• To know the stages of grief and the basic rules to help grieving people, including health professionals.
• To recognize the social consequences of severe illness and how to activate early support mechanisms.
• To know palliative care in pediatrics patients.
• Understand ethical principles in chronic disease and at the end of life.

Working method

Presencial

Program

Introduction to palliative care
Pain
Communication
Digestive symptoms
Respiratory symptoms
Cardiac insufficiency
Renal insufficiency
Nutrition; Subcutaneous therapy; Oral Care Grief; Family support; Family conference
Terminal phase Palliative care in Pediatrics
Ethical isssues

Mandatory literature

Elga Freire et al; Manual de Cuidados Paliativos do CHP, A fornecer no inicio das aulas, 2016

Complementary Bibliography

António Barbosa, Paulo Reis Pina, Filipa Tavares, Isabel G. Neto; Manual de Cuidados Paliativos , Faculdade de Medicina de Lisboa, 2016
Ferraz Gonçalves; Controlo de sintomas no cancro avançado., Coisas e Letras, 2013
Kasper Dennis et al ; Harrison's Principles if Internal Medicine, Kasper, Fauci, Hauser, Longo, Jameson and Loscalzo, 2016

Teaching methods and learning activities

Oral expository method
Case study
Roll playing - communication of bad news
Workshop - discussion of clinical cases in groups

Evaluation Type

Evaluation with final exam

Assessment Components

Designation	Weight (%)
Teste	100,00
Total:	100,00

Amount of time allocated to each course unit

Designation	Time (hours)
Estudo autónomo	51,00
Frequência das aulas	30,00
Total:	81,00

Eligibility for exams

Presence in, at least, 75% of the classes.

Calculation formula of final grade

The approval implies obtaining a grade of 9.5 or higher in the final test (multiple choise)

Special assessment (TE, DA, ...)

Written test

Classification improvement

Classification improvement requires the implementation of a new test.