NSQ637 Palliative and End of Life Care
To view more information for this unit, select Unit Outline from the list below. Please note the teaching period for which the Unit Outline is relevant.
| Unit code: | NSQ637 |
|---|---|
| Credit points: | 12 |
| Timetable | Details in HiQ, if available |
| Availabilities |
|
| CSP student contribution | $578 |
| Domestic tuition unit fee | $3,216 |
| International unit fee | $4,668 |
Unit Outline: Session 2 2025, QUT Online, Online
| Unit code: | NSQ637 |
|---|---|
| Credit points: | 12 |
Overview
Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of this unit you will be able to:
- Critically apply relevant palliative care principles to the assessment, management and evidence-based clinical decision making for older people and their families.
- Reflect critically on social and cultural contexts of death and dying that impact personal and professional responses and interactions with older people and their families at end of life.
- Communicate effectively to engage in advance care planning discussions and facilitate person-centred decision making relating to end of life care choices and needs.
- Evaluate the legal and ethical aspects of choices made related to palliative and end of life care and how these apply to practice across diverse health care settings.
Content
Course themes emphasised in this unit include advocacy and leadership, intra- and inter- disciplinary practice, ethical and responsible practice, therapeutic relationships and communications.
The unit addresses the following topics:
- Understanding the physiological, psychological, social, cultural, and spiritual needs of older people at end of life
- Addressing consumers’ needs, goals and preferences at end of life, including advance care planning
- Legal and ethical aspects of palliative and end of life care
- Assessing and managing common palliative and end of life needs for older people
- Standards for achieving optimal palliative and end of life care across a range of care contexts
- Integrated care models and interprofessional strategies to achieve optimal palliative and end of life care
Learning Approaches
In this fully online unit you will have the opportunity to learn through active engagement with the interactive learning resources, online discussions and self-directed learning materials. This unit takes an interdisciplinary approach to examining core principles of palliative and end of life care. Learning activities assist students to respond to the complex needs of older people at the end of life using an evidence based, person-centred approach to optimise or maintain their dignity and comfort.
Feedback on Learning and Assessment
You will be provided with:
- Informal formative feedback through self-check exercises, peer feedback and through individual or whole of class feedback in online discussions or via comments in online communities.
- Formal written or recorded feedback on both formative and summative assessment tasks via Turnitin or the Canvas Assignment tool, in addition to the grade on the Criterion Reference Assessment sheet.
- Feedback on your assessment task 1 prior to the submission of your assessment task 2.
- Industry informed expert feedback through clinical assessment examples and interventions at timely intervals to guide learning and assessment.
You are encouraged to seek and share feedback in your workplaces where appropriate.
Assessment
Overview
In this unit, there are three summative written assessment tasks to submit. The first assessment task requires you to develop a care plan based on a case study of an older person with palliative care needs. This task is due in week 5. The second assessment task requires you to design an organisational strategic plan to meet consumer's needs, goals, preferences related to advanced care and end of life planning. This task is due at the end of the teaching period in the QUT Online exam week.
Unit Grading Scheme
7- point scale
Assessment Tasks
Assessment: Reflection on end of life care
You will reflect on your personal beliefs on "What makes a good death?". Include how your beliefs influence personal and professional responses and interactions with older people and their families at end of life.
This is an assignment for the purposes of an extension.
Assessment: Assessment and Management of Palliative and End of Life Care Needs for Older People
You will develop a care plan for a selected case study which reflects the role of your discipline/profession in the context of an interprofessional approach to care for an older person with palliative care needs. Your assignment should demonstrate your ability to apply an evidence-based approach to assessment and decision making for this person's care. You will need to think critically and creatively about the selected needs of the person, and review concepts and principles related to palliative and end of life care. The emphasis is on a clear understanding of the person’s palliative needs and the context of care. Your work should include a critical analysis of the evidence supporting your care plan, using relevant literature, systematic reviews, clinical care guidelines, and other materials, as appropriate.
This is an assignment for the purposes of an extension.
Assessment: Enabling consumer choices and preferences at end of life
You are part of a team who have been asked to design consumer, workforce and organisational strategies to ensure that your service meets the required standards in relation to ensuring that assessment and planning identifies and addresses consumer’s current needs, goals and preferences, including advance care planning and end of life planning. This assignment requires you to prepare a plan outlining:
•a range of strategies that would be required to meet this standard
•a risk management plan to optimise the success of these strategies.
Your work should include a critical analysis of the evidence supporting your plan, using relevant literature as appropriate.
This is an assignment for the purposes of an extension.
Academic Integrity
Academic integrity is a commitment to undertaking academic work and assessment in a manner that is ethical, fair, honest, respectful and accountable.
The Academic Integrity Policy sets out the range of conduct that can be a failure to maintain the standards of academic integrity. This includes, cheating in exams, plagiarism, self-plagiarism, collusion and contract cheating. It also includes providing fraudulent or altered documentation in support of an academic concession application, for example an assignment extension or a deferred exam.
You are encouraged to make use of QUT’s learning support services, resources and tools to assure the academic integrity of your assessment. This includes the use of text matching software that may be available to assist with self-assessing your academic integrity as part of the assessment submission process.
Breaching QUT’s Academic Integrity Policy or engaging in conduct that may defeat or compromise the purpose of assessment can lead to a finding of student misconduct (Code of Conduct – Student) and result in the imposition of penalties under the Management of Student Misconduct Policy, ranging from a grade reduction to exclusion from QUT.
Requirements to Study
Requirements
Nil
Costs
Nil
Resources
There are no prescribed texts for this unit. A range of reference material will be included to support weekly learning activities.
Risk Assessment Statement
This unit addresses sensitive and complex topics. If you are distressed by issues explored in the content of this unit you should approach academic staff or consult the university counselling service. Substantial computer-based work will be required. You are recommended to take regular rest breaks when engaging in prolonged computer-based work.
Unit Outline: Session 4 2025, QUT Online, Online
| Unit code: | NSQ637 |
|---|---|
| Credit points: | 12 |
Overview
Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of this unit you will be able to:
- Critically apply relevant palliative care principles to the assessment, management and evidence-based clinical decision making for older people and their families.
- Reflect critically on social and cultural contexts of death and dying that impact personal and professional responses and interactions with older people and their families at end of life.
- Communicate effectively to engage in advance care planning discussions and facilitate person-centred decision making relating to end of life care choices and needs.
- Evaluate the legal and ethical aspects of choices made related to palliative and end of life care and how these apply to practice across diverse health care settings.
Content
Course themes emphasised in this unit include advocacy and leadership, intra- and inter- disciplinary practice, ethical and responsible practice, therapeutic relationships and communications.
The unit addresses the following topics:
- Understanding the physiological, psychological, social, cultural, and spiritual needs of older people at end of life
- Addressing consumers’ needs, goals and preferences at end of life, including advance care planning
- Legal and ethical aspects of palliative and end of life care
- Assessing and managing common palliative and end of life needs for older people
- Standards for achieving optimal palliative and end of life care across a range of care contexts
- Integrated care models and interprofessional strategies to achieve optimal palliative and end of life care
Learning Approaches
In this fully online unit you will have the opportunity to learn through active engagement with the interactive learning resources, online discussions and self-directed learning materials. This unit takes an interdisciplinary approach to examining core principles of palliative and end of life care. Learning activities assist students to respond to the complex needs of older people at the end of life using an evidence based, person-centred approach to optimise or maintain their dignity and comfort.
Feedback on Learning and Assessment
You will be provided with:
- Informal formative feedback through self-check exercises, peer feedback and through individual or whole of class feedback in online discussions or via comments in online communities.
- Formal written or recorded feedback on both formative and summative assessment tasks via Turnitin or the Canvas Assignment tool, in addition to the grade on the Criterion Reference Assessment sheet.
- Feedback on your assessment task 1 prior to the submission of your assessment task 2.
- Industry informed expert feedback through clinical assessment examples and interventions at timely intervals to guide learning and assessment.
You are encouraged to seek and share feedback in your workplaces where appropriate.
Assessment
Overview
In this unit, there are three summative written assessment tasks to submit. The first assessment task requires you to develop a care plan based on a case study of an older person with palliative care needs. This task is due in week 5. The second assessment task requires you to design an organisational strategic plan to meet consumer's needs, goals, preferences related to advanced care and end of life planning. This task is due at the end of the teaching period in the QUT Online exam week.
Unit Grading Scheme
7- point scale
Assessment Tasks
Assessment: Reflection on end of life care
You will reflect on your personal beliefs on "What makes a good death?". Include how your beliefs influence personal and professional responses and interactions with older people and their families at end of life.
This is an assignment for the purposes of an extension.
Assessment: Assessment and Management of Palliative and End of Life Care Needs for Older People
You will develop a care plan for a selected case study which reflects the role of your discipline/profession in the context of an interprofessional approach to care for an older person with palliative care needs. Your assignment should demonstrate your ability to apply an evidence-based approach to assessment and decision making for this person's care. You will need to think critically and creatively about the selected needs of the person, and review concepts and principles related to palliative and end of life care. The emphasis is on a clear understanding of the person’s palliative needs and the context of care. Your work should include a critical analysis of the evidence supporting your care plan, using relevant literature, systematic reviews, clinical care guidelines, and other materials, as appropriate.
This is an assignment for the purposes of an extension.
Assessment: Enabling consumer choices and preferences at end of life
You are part of a team who have been asked to design consumer, workforce and organisational strategies to ensure that your service meets the required standards in relation to ensuring that assessment and planning identifies and addresses consumer’s current needs, goals and preferences, including advance care planning and end of life planning. This assignment requires you to prepare a plan outlining:
•a range of strategies that would be required to meet this standard
•a risk management plan to optimise the success of these strategies.
Your work should include a critical analysis of the evidence supporting your plan, using relevant literature as appropriate.
This is an assignment for the purposes of an extension.
Academic Integrity
Academic integrity is a commitment to undertaking academic work and assessment in a manner that is ethical, fair, honest, respectful and accountable.
The Academic Integrity Policy sets out the range of conduct that can be a failure to maintain the standards of academic integrity. This includes, cheating in exams, plagiarism, self-plagiarism, collusion and contract cheating. It also includes providing fraudulent or altered documentation in support of an academic concession application, for example an assignment extension or a deferred exam.
You are encouraged to make use of QUT’s learning support services, resources and tools to assure the academic integrity of your assessment. This includes the use of text matching software that may be available to assist with self-assessing your academic integrity as part of the assessment submission process.
Breaching QUT’s Academic Integrity Policy or engaging in conduct that may defeat or compromise the purpose of assessment can lead to a finding of student misconduct (Code of Conduct – Student) and result in the imposition of penalties under the Management of Student Misconduct Policy, ranging from a grade reduction to exclusion from QUT.
Requirements to Study
Requirements
Nil
Costs
Nil
Resources
There are no prescribed texts for this unit. A range of reference material will be included to support weekly learning activities.
Risk Assessment Statement
This unit addresses sensitive and complex topics. If you are distressed by issues explored in the content of this unit you should approach academic staff or consult the university counselling service. Substantial computer-based work will be required. You are recommended to take regular rest breaks when engaging in prolonged computer-based work.