Culture & End of Life Care: Patients' Beliefs and Values

This course helps you elicit and respond to patients' faith-based values, and facilitate communication with others who will be involved in patients' end-of-life care.

Outcome Objectives:

As a result of completing this activity, the participant will be better able to:

- Ask questions that will help you gather information on the patient's Explanatory Model, or understanding, of her illness experience.
- Organize your approach to culture using the LEARN mnemonic: Listen, Explain, Acknowledge, Recommend, and Negotiate.
- Elicit and respond to patients' faith-based values and goals for care.
- Enable patients to anticipate and consider aspects of the dying process they might not have considered.
- Facilitate communication with others who will be involved in patients' end-of-life care.
- Incorporate patients' values and preferences in advance care planning.
- Identify options for responding to requests from a patient's family that raise ethical questions.
- Analyze how to offer truth in order to elicit your patients' preferences.
- Negotiate solutions that respect patients' preferences as well as your ethical duty.
- Evaluate evidence for and against complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) practices.
- Advise patients on the basis of evidence.
- Negotiate treatment plans with patients who incorporate CAM.
- Build trust and promote open communication with patients.