Palliative care: Learning outcomes
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After completing this tutorial, you will be able to:
- Describe how opioid and non-opioid analgesics are used in the management of pain in a palliative setting.
- Outline how common symptoms such nausea, vomiting and constipation may be treated in patients with a life-limiting illness.
- Advise on the continuous subcutaneous administration of medicines using a syringe driver.
You can download a PDF of the whole tutorial (without Learning Exercises).

Competencies
This tutorial is aimed at hospital pre-registration pharmacists, and will help you achieve GPhC performance standards such as these:- A1.6 Make decisions which demonstrate clear and logical thought
- A3 Manage problems
- B1.4 Elicit all relevant information by the use of appropriate questions
- C2.1 Provide considered and correct answers to queries, founded on research-based evidence
If you are a foundation pharmacist, this tutorial may help you meet competencies from the RPS framework including:
- 1.4 Selection of the medicine (medicine-medicine, medicine-patient, medicine-disease interactions)
- 1.7 Monitoring medicine therapy
- 3.2 Knowledge (drug interactions)
- 3.3 Analysing information
- 3.4 Providing information
Continuing professional development
Finally, here are some CPD activities you could consider:
★ Find out if you have a palliative care team at your Trust or in the community and arrange to shadow them.
★ Establish whether you have any local treatment guidelines on managing symptom control in patients living with a life-limiting illness.

★ Establish whether you have any local treatment guidelines on managing symptom control in patients living with a life-limiting illness.
★ Arrange to observe a syringe driver being set up and administered to a patient.