Foundational Skills for All Physicians

An introduction to palliative care, how it is delivered, its impact on quality of life, and the growing population of patients who need it.

Assesses for nine symptoms experienced by patients with serious illness and quantifies their severity. Alberta Health Services.

Brief (4-question) screening tool for anxiety and depression.

Assessment tool and resource list to address social risk factors.

Short conversation guide to elicit information about a patient's spiritual history and preferences.

Self-reported caregiver assessment.

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

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

Defines unconscious bias and how it influences patient care, and provides ways to reduce the impact of unconscious bias on care delivery.

This resource lists step-wise tips to foster comfortable, productive dialogue for ‘the hospice conversation’.

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

Non-pharmacological and pharmacological strategies for managing fatigue. Published and maintained by Up To Date.

Recommended validated cognitive assessment tools.

After completing this course, learners will be equipped with evidence-based strategies to identify and treat anxiety in patients living with a serious illness.

Constipation occurs in at least 70% of patients living with a serious illness and often goes unrecognized. After completing this course, learners will have the tools to successfully identify and manage the impact of constipation.

After completing this course, learners will have the tools to accurately identify and treat depression in patients living with a serious illness.

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.

Nausea and vomiting are common symptoms of serious illness and can cause dangerous complications. After completing this course, learners will be equipped with practical skills to identify, manage, and reduce these symptoms.

Considerations for clinicians, patients, and families upon diagnosis, including advance care planning, personal care needs, legal and financial planning, work and retirement planning, and prevention of common medical risks.

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

Geriatric prognosis calculator based on a systematic review of prognostic indices, with links to disease-specific prognosis tool when applicable. Includes communication tools for talking with patients about prognosis, and can be used on a mobile phone or tablet. Created and maintained by the University of San Francisco.

National database of community services - enter a zip code and locate assistance with food, housing, health services, care needs, and other resources.