Symptom management is one of the hallmarks of palliative care. The Clinical Practice Guidelines for Quality Palliative Care highlight the importance of this in both Domain 2: physical Aspects of Care and Domain 3: Psychological and Psychiatric Aspects of Care. Effectively assessing and treating symptoms not only improves patients’ quality of life, it also impacts healthcare. Poorly managed symptoms can lead to a higher utilization of Emergency Room visits and potentially avoidable hospitalizations.
It is recommended that all providers have a basic understanding of pain and symptom management when caring for patients with serious illness- primary palliative care training. The Center to Advance Palliative Care (CAPC) has a two new units to help clinicians better assess and treat pain and symptoms. First is their Symptom Management courses that teach up to date techniques for managing common symptoms, strategies for mitigating side effects, and include the latest mental health treatment guidelines. The five courses cover:
- Anxiety
- Constipation
- Depression
- Dyspnea
- Nausea and vomiting
For a more comprehensive training in pain management, CAPC offers its Pain Management Curriculum that incorporate the latest best practices in evidence-based pain management. The ten courses are:
- Pain and its Impact on Our Patients
- How to Perform a Comprehensive Pain Assessment
- Matching Treatment to Pain Type
- Prescribing an Opioid
- Practice Prescribing an Opioid
- Creating a Pain Treatment Plan and Monitoring Effectiveness
- Advanced Opioid Prescribing: Converting to Long-Acting Opioids
- Problems with Opioid Prescribing: Is it an Opioid Use Disorder?
- Using Buprenorphine for Chronic Pain and Opioid Use Disorder
- Managing IV Opioids
CAPC offers Free Continuing Education credits and MOC credits for AMA PRA, case management, nursing, and social work with full access to all pain course for CAPC members. Your organization may be a member. To create an account, click here. If your organization is not a CAPC member, Learn more at capc.org/membership. All SDAHO member receive a 15% discount on their first year’s membership!
