Article Text
Abstract
Background The End of Life Care (EoLC) for All e-learning package (e-ELCA) was developed by the Association of Palliative Medicine to support the End of Life Care Strategy (2008). It aims to provide accessible teaching to a wide range of staff with differing expertise and educational requirements. A 3 month pilot of e-ELCA was undertaken at East Surrey Hospital, a District General Hospital (DGH).
Aim The main aims of this pilot: to train between thirty and forty ‘superusers’ whom, after completing two modules, could provide on-going support and training of all staff on EoLC via the use of the e-learning package and to evaluate staff knowledge and confidence in EoLC before and after the pilot via the use of a questionnaire.
Methods A specialist palliative care team nurse was seconded to support the training of ward staff. The e-learning training was consolidated on two acute wards and made universally available on the hospital intranet.
Results Sixty-four modules were completed by twenty nine staff during the pilot period. Undertaking the pilot highlighted difficulties: the e-ELCA site had to be accessed via an external site which proved difficult to use. Passwords, usernames and guidance on site navigation were required for all new users. Access to ward computers was limited and software was sometimes incompatible. Modules took longer to complete than expected, especially when English was a second language. Most importantly, to train ward nurses backfill of nursing posts was essential due to clinical pressures.
Conclusion e-ELCA can be undertaken in a DGH provided there is adequate IT support, accessing the material needs to be more user friendly and backfill of clinical posts is essential.