Life and Death Matters reached out to a few colleges and hospices using the text, Integrating a Palliative Approach: Essentials for Personal Support Workers, and companion resources in their teaching  and asked permission to survey students about their learning experiences in hospice and palliative care. An online survey was distributed to individuals who used the resources and were completing their practicum, had graduated or had completed a self-study program. The survey results resoundingly endorsed the text, Integrating a Palliative Approach: Essentials for Personal Support Workers, as a positive learning tool for learning to provide hospice, palliative and end-of-life care.

In the survey, students were asked to reflect on their learning experiences and indicate which statements they agreed with. These are some of the results:

• 80% indicated “I will keep this text and continue to use this in my practice.”
• 75% indicated  “I know how to support a person experiencing common symptoms of life-limiting illness”
• 74% indicated “I strengthened my skills for communicating with people experiencing life-limiting illness and their family.”
• 83% reported “I learned why self-care is important, and how to provide self-care.”

Students self-reported what they had learned from the text and companion resources. The results indicate the percentage of respondants who reported learning each topic from the text and resources.

• 90% – How to recognize different patterns of dying
• 88% – Ways to prepare myself for providing hospice and palliative care
• 86% – Strategies for communicating with a person and family about difficult topics
• 83% – How to recognize, observe, record and report when a person is experiencing a common symptom, e.g., pain.
• 83% – The different ways people experience loss and grief, and how to provide appropriate support
• 88% – The common changes in the last days and hours of life and how to support a dying person and family
• 86% – How to provide self-care to maintain my personal health when working in hospice and palliative care.

This survey strongly supports teaching hospice, palliative and end-of-life care to PSW students using the text, Integrating a Palliative Approach: Essentials for Personal Support Workers, and companion workbook, podcasts and videos.

There are more results, including the interview of instructors to report. Look for that information in upcoming blog posts.