e-ELCA | APM Online | UK Palliative Medicine Association|%%palliative

e-ELCA is a national e-learning programme developed by Health Education England e-Learning for Healthcare in partnership with the APM. e-ELCA aims to enhance the training and education of the health and social care workforce so that well-informed high quality care can be delivered by confident and competent staff and volunteers to support people wherever they happen to be. It is now freely available to everyone who supports those at or towards the end of life and their families – this includes professional working in hospices, in all healthcare settings and in the community. Content has been written by specialists in palliative care including many members of the APM. The content is divided into Learning Paths – groups of sessions tailored for specific disciplines and those caring for people with specific conditions. Dr Sarah Hanrott is the current APM lead for the work.

We are always keen to hear from anyone with ideas for new sessions and volunteers to help update sessions (which we do every 2-3 years) or to write new ones.

For more information please visit: http://www.e-lfh.org.uk/programmes/end-of-life-care/

The e-learning resources of e-ELCA are universally praised but the biggest criticism is that people don’t know about them. A communications plan is in place to increase knowledge of the programme. APM members, who have contributed hugely to the development of the 180 sessions, are also key to making e-ELCA used to it’s full potential.

Dr Sarah Hanrott
APM e-ELCA Lead

Follow on Twitter: @cmf_elca

Updated Sessions in 2023 Include:

e-ELCA Updates 2022

Additional e-ELCA Updates

New Session

Engaging effectively about advance care planning with people from ethnically diverse backgrounds.

This session aims to build healthcare professional confidence and expertise in supporting people from diverse ethnic backgrounds to engage in thinking ahead about deterioration and dying at a time and at a level with which the patient feels comfortable.

It is based on findings from the Thinking Ahead Study in which over 70 people from ethnically diverse communities and 60 health professionals shared their experiences of thinking ahead about deterioration and dying.

The session was created in partnership with the LOROS to be part of a wider group of resources intended to promote awareness and learning about the key findings of the research.

e-ELCA Update March 2020

Updated sessions

e-ELCA session updates take place regularly to ensure content of the programme remains contemporary and relevant. The following sessions have been updated in the last few months:

5 – Assessment of psychological well-being
9 – Bereavement assessment and support
12 – Assessing those with fluctuating mental capacity
16 – Identifying the patient’s goals and priorities
17 – Documentation, communication and coordination
19 – Uses and Limitations of Assessment Tools
34 – Dealing With Challenging Relatives
35 – Challenging communication with colleagues
13 – Drug management of breathlessness
20 – Management of Bleeding
23b – Symptom Management for the Dying Adult
36 – Recognising and managing fatigue
39 – Assessment of physical and cognitive deterioration in function T
40 – Management of physical deterioration
3 – Initiating Conversations about End of Life Care: Dementia
7 – Case study: COPD
13 – When the dying process is protracted or unexpectedly fast
18 – Treatment and Care Towards the End of Life Good Practice in Decision Making
22 – Using the NHS Continuing Healthcare Fast Track Pathway Tool

Thanks to all of those who have supported e-ELCA session updates, it is much appreciated.

e-ELCA on the Road

You may have met the e-ELCA team at various events and conferences over the last couple of years. We attended the Hospice UK Conference in Liverpool in November 2019. We will also be attending the Palliative Care Congress in Telford in March 2020. Please come and see us! We are looking at attending further conferences to this too to raise awareness of the programme.

Mapping of Palliative Medicine Specialty Training Curriculum to e-ELCA

Significant work reviewing the whole of the e-ELCA catalogue identified a number of sessions that align with elements of the new Internal Medicine Training Curriculum. This work led to the development of the Internal Medicine Training Learning Path that is available on the e-ELCA website.

Communication

The e-ELCA tea continue to work to promote the programme and make it as widely known as possible. We recently supported a WeNurses Twitter chat on education in palliative care alongside Dr Iain Lawrie, APM president. Additionally, all programme updated are sent out through Twitter so please follow us and keep an eye out for these.

We also regularly include an article in the APM bulletin, and also send this copy for dissemination through other sources such as HospiceUK and HEE.