Graduate Certificate in Palliative Care

Please note: This course is not being offered in 2021. You may be interested in the Specialist Certificate in Palliative Care.

The University of Melbourne's Graduate Certificate in Palliative Care is the industry-standard course in palliative and end-of-life care management, designed for health professionals committed to providing the best possible support to patients in their care throughout the trajectory of a life-limiting illness.

Students will consolidate their knowledge of the core concepts and practices of palliative care including practice standards, symptom management, non-cancer contexts, bereavement care, psychosocial issues, support for carers and effective communication skills. There is a strong focus on applying clinical practice in a range of settings.

Palliative care is complex and interdisciplinary, and driven by patient and family need. Students will elect to complete subjects that complement their clinical role with the aim of improving outcomes for patients and their families.

Designed by leading clinical experts, this course is delivered in partnership with The Centre for Palliative Care (CPC), part of St Vincent's Hospital. The Centre plays a pivotal role in the development and delivery of state-wide training and education programs for health professionals from a variety of disciplines.

Delivered by experts in their fields drawn from multiple institutions around Victoria, this course will introduce you to the theoretical knowledge and advances that underpin palliative care management, and equip you to put this knowledge into practice.

As well as the core subject Fundamentals of Palliative Care, you will undertake three additional subjects, covering areas such as:

• Contemporary Approaches to Bereavement, which considers the bereavement needs of special populations, and explores a range of individual, group and family techniques and intervention strategies.
• Paediatric Palliative Care, which explores symptom management, psychosocial and ethical issues for palliative children and their families.
• Ethics in Clinical Practice, which builds upon Fundamentals of Palliative by enhancing students' understanding of ethical theories, principles, and frameworks, deepening students' understanding of the common ethical issues relevant to daily clinical practice with a focus on issues relevant to providing care to those at the end of life.
• Adult Palliative Care, which explores pain assessment and management, symptom assessment and management, care in the non-malignant context plus family centred palliative care and cultural issues.
• Psychosocial Aspects of Palliative Care, which explores the psychological, psychiatric, social, cultural, spiritual and existential experiences of patients and families dealing with life-threatening illness.