Living Towards the End: A Practical Guide

Everyone who is involved in patient care will sooner or later be confronted with the finiteness of life. Sometimes people die very suddenly, but often a longer path precedes it in which the intensive provision of care becomes a major factor. Various medical or nursing 'end-of-life decisions' can occur in this area. It is not always clear what the ethical, medical, nursing, legal and deontological framework of such decisions around the end of life is. This e-learning programme 'Living towards the End' outlines the various decisions around the end of life. It is intended for all care providers who are confronted with this problem. The programme was therefore developed from the care practice, namely within the hospitals of the Gasthuiszusters van Antwerpen group. The programme is aimed at competence development by systematically working on knowledge, attitudes and skills within the domain of the end of life. It is included on the CD-ROM that is offered together with this manual 'Living towards the end'. The manual attempts to discuss the implementation process of this e-learning programme from a fundamental basic vision. Nurses and doctors describe their experiences, but the trainers also describe their core experiences, learning and spearheads in the supervision of the programme. In addition, e-learning as a form of workplace learning for adults is briefly discussed. The last part of the manual deals very specifically with a number of capita selecta of the e-learning programme. In the section 'Legal concept clarifications' a translation is made of the legal rule to the care practice. After that, important concepts from palliative care practice are discussed in an analogous way. The manual (with CD-ROM) offers suitable material for supervisors and care providers in hospitals, but also in residential and care centres.