What is the Palliative Care Education and Training Collaborative?
People who are dying have a range of care needs requiring support from multiple health care providers in multiple care contexts. To ensure a workforce capable of providing appropriate and timely care, a whole-of-workforce approach is required. The Palliative Care Education and Training Collaborative is an initiative of the Australian Government Department of Health that aims to build the capability and capacity of the health workforce to provide quality palliative care to all Australians. The activities for the Collaborative focus on three broad areas: (1) Delivery of education and training programs; (2) Capacity building; (3) Maintenance of an education and training hub (through CareSearch).
- Program delivery: The Collaborative will deliver education and training opportunities for health care providers across primary, secondary and tertiary settings through the Program of Experience in the Palliative Approach (PEPA). PEPA provides supervised palliative care placements for non-specialist providers; palliative care specialist placements in non-specialist services (ie. ‘reverse PEPA’); targeted workshops and on-line activities. These activities build on previous phases of PEPA by extending the reach to priority issues/populations (e.g., communication and care planning in acute and primary care settings, chronic end-stage disease, indigenous health care), and strengthening the transfer of learning into the workplace.
- Capacity Building: The Collaborative will build capacity of our workforce to provide palliative care, by promoting integration of palliative care curriculum resources into all university courses that prepare health care providers for entry to practice, through the Palliative Care Curriculum for Undergraduates Project (PCC4U). The Collaborative will also extend its work to ensure that palliative care is incorporated into relevant programs for regulated and unregulated health providers in the Vocational Education and Training Sector and other health care settings. As part of this process, the Collaborative will develop teaching and learning resources and facilitate networks for palliative care educators.
- Palliative Care Education and Training Hub: The education and training hub will be available through CareSearch, a knowledge network which brings relevant evidence and quality information to palliative care, to provide ready access to educational opportunities for health professionals wishing to develop their knowledge and skills in palliative care. The Education hub will be built around a whole of workforce education pathway enabling health care organisations, educators and individual health professionals to identify opportunities relevant to their learning needs and context of practice.
For further information on the Palliative Care Education and Training Collaborative, please visit pepaeducation.com and pcc4u.org.au
Last updated 17 January 2017