Improving Quality of Life for Patients with Heart Failure

Checklist of triggers for referral to a specialty palliative care team.

After completing this course, learners will have the tools they need to manage dyspnea, including the physical causes of shortness of breath and the emotional impact on the patient.

Learn to define and characterize pain, recognize the prevalence of pain, understand disparities in pain management based on race, ethnicity, and gender.

Learn the components of a comprehensive pain assessment and its importance in safe and effective pain management.

Gain an overview of pharmacologic and nonpharmacologic pain treatments, including risks and benefits, and learn how to match the analgesic to pain type.

Learn how to decide on an appropriate opioid, route of delivery, and dose, and understand how to prescribe for incident and breakthrough pain.

Practice prescribing initial opioid doses for different pain types and characteristics. Learn to adjust dosing as needed to manage pain effectively.

Learn to develop a pain treatment plan with realistic goals and proper documentation, and implement universal precautions to help with the risk of opioid use disorder.

Learn how to convert from short-acting to long-acting opioids, and calculate rescue doses for breakthrough pain using updated equianalgesic tools.

Learn how to identify and diagnose opioid use disorder (OUD) and practice communicating with patients about OUD and pain management.

Determine which patients may benefit from buprenorphine as a treatment for pain and opioid use disorder (OUD), and learn how to transition patients to buprenorphine.

Learn how to convert patients back and forth from oral to IV opioid formulations, how to prescribe patient-controlled analgesia (PCA), and how to treat acute pain crises.

Learn best practices for having patient-centered conversations about a serious illness diagnosis. These discussions are the foundation of building a trusting clinician-patient relationship.

Learn how to effectively discuss prognosis with patients and their caregivers to ensure understanding and set the context for decision-making.

Learn best practices for building trust, eliciting patient values, and having patient-centered conversations about goals of care.

Learn to effectively lead conversations that address a range of concerns and emotions to help patients and caregivers become aligned around the patient’s goals.

Learn techniques to help patients and their caregivers plan for the future, both during the early stages of a serious illness and as a disease progresses.

This course provides context and best practices for identifying older adults at risk for poor outcomes, including falls, delirium, and caregiving challenges.

This course offers tools and guidance for assessing and addressing the needs of caregivers of people with serious illness.

Guidance for all clinicians on improving communication and ensuring smooth transitions of care for patients living with serious illness.