Palliative Care for Children South Africa (Patch SA)

Ethics and Decision Making in Children's Palliative Care

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Short course

Course type

7 hours

Study time

Online

Mode of learning

CPD points

6 Ethics pts
(70% average required)

Course overview

All children are vulnerable and those with a serious illness or disability are even more so. Moreover, decisions are made for children by others (known as proxy decision makers), who are usually their parents or other caregivers. There are many difficult decisions that have to be made when providing care to children with life-limiting and life-threatening illnesses. These include life and death decisions, such as whether or not to withhold or withdraw certain treatments.

Sometimes doctors adopt a paternalistic approach and tell the parents what to do and sometimes parents, who are influenced by their emotions and their fear of losing the child, will tell the doctors what to do. There is a significant risk that decisions may not necessarily be made in the best interests of the child, and that the child may not have a say in this. It is therefore important that an ethical framework be applied to provision and decision making in children’s palliative care.

The course Ethics and Decision Making in Children's Palliative Care covers the following key elements:
  • Rights, morals, and ethics
  • Rights of children in South Africa
  • Medical ethics in children's palliative care
  • Management of ethical dilemmas
  • Ethical frameworks for decision making
  • Decision makers and proxy decision makers
  • Shared decision making
  • Disclosure and collusion
  • Withholding and withdrawing of treatment
  • Ethical decision making at the end of life

Who is this course for?

South African healthcare professionals working with children with palliative care needs

Required qualification

None

Course level

Intermediate

Develop your professional skills

Why choose this course?

  • Comprehensive Curriculum: It covers all key aspects and relevant skills, ensuring a deep understanding of assessing and managing pain in children.
  • Expert Developers: Learn from leaders in the field of children's palliative care, all clinical and academic experts with years of real-world experience and insight.
  • Flexible Learning Options: Our online courses provide the flexibility and convenience of learning in your own time, from the comfort of your home or office.

About the academic institution

Patch Academy is the education arm of PatchSA. It is an online learning platform that has operated for 4 years and trained over 4000 students with courses included in the curricula of 3 major universities in South Africa. Patch Academy offers paediatric palliative care training via interactive courses on various aspects of providing holistic care to children with palliative care needs. The 12 available courses are all CPD accredited and have been developed by a group of experts in the field. The content is appropriate for all members of a multi-disciplinary palliative care team and there are no prerequisites for taking our courses. We invite anyone with an interest in caring for children with serious, chronic, life-threatening and/or complex medical conditions and their families to complete any or all of the courses.

4000+ Students

12 CPD Accredited Courses

Highly Rated

Patch contact info

   info@patchsa.org
  082 374 4632

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Course Lessons

  • Certificate included

    Upon successful completion of this course, you will receive a certificate of completion from Patch SA, a name synonymous with excellence in professional growth.

Course authors

Dr Michelle Meiring
Paediatrician specialising in Pain and Palliative Care
Founder and CEO of Paedspal
Course Convenor at University of Cape Town

Dr Meiring is a Paediatrician with a special interest in Palliative Care and Chronic Pain Management. She is the Founding Director of Paedspal, an NGO that provides a paediatric palliative care service to public and private patients in Cape Town. Academically she convenes the Post-Graduate Diploma in Paediatric Palliative Medicine at UCT. An active advocate, Dr Meiring founded Palliative Care for Children South Africa (PatchSA) and chaired the organisation for 12 years. She remains as the advocacy lead and is engaged in policy making nationally.

Tracy Rawlins
Professional Nurse / Nurse Educator
Education and Training Manager at PatchSA

Tracy Rawlins is a qualified professional nurse, midwife and health educator. Her experience in caring for the terminally ill in her community laid the foundation for her qualification in adult palliative care but her heart and passion has always been in working with babies and children. In 2017 she successfully completed her post grad diploma in Paediatric Palliative medicine, cum laude. Her current role as the Training and Education Manager for PatchSA has afforded her the opportunity to combine both her passion for facilitation and training, and at the same time, assist in caring and supporting children with serious illnesses and their families.

Prof Jan du Plessis
Head of Paediaatric Oncology Unit
University of the Free State

Prof Jan du Plessis is a paediatric oncologist at the Universitas Academic Hospital in Bloemfontein. Prof du Plessis obtained his Certificate in Medical Oncology (Paediatrics) from the Colleges of Medicine (SA) in 2006. He completed a 2-year fellowship in Paediatric Haematology/Oncology and Bone Marrow Transplantation at the Sydney Children’s Hospital in Sydney, Australia. Prof du Plessis completed the diploma in palliative care at the University of Cape Town in 2013 and completed and obtained the MPhil in Palliative Medicine degree from the University of Cape Town in 2016. Currently, he is the head of Paediatric Oncology and is also a lecturer at the University of the Free State for both undergraduate and postgraduate medical students. He has a special interest in paediatric palliative care and haemophilia.

Course developers 

Sue Boucher & Tracy Rawlins
Paediatric Palliative Care Content Experts and Course Developers
Sue Boucher is the Programme & Communications Manager and Tracy Rawlins is the Education and Training Manager at PatchSA. Sue Boucher is an educator by profession, an author, and communications expert. She has worked in the field of children's palliative care since 2008 and is well versed in all aspects of the specialty. Tracy Rawlins is a professional nurse with a post graduate qualification in nurse education, as well as adult, and paediatric palliative medicine. They are both content experts with vast experience in adult education and have honed their skills as online instructional designers since 2020, collaboratively developing each of the 12 virtual courses available on the Patch Academy website.
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Student testimonials

“The PatchSA course on Ethics and Palliative Care is excellent. It takes the learner through all the important aspects of ethics, children’s rights, and the law regarding children, particularly in the context of palliative care. Apart from the core module contents, many links and additional resources provide interesting information and reading. Discussion of ethical dilemmas and actual cases provides additional interest and learning opportunities. Each section revises the core knowledge through quizzes and questions. The ethics novice and the experienced person will both gain from this module. I highly recommend it.”
Prof Sharon Kling
MBChB DCH(SA), FCPaed, MMed, MPhil (Applied Ethics)
Consultant Paediatrician: Tygerberg Hospital
Part-time Lecturer: Centre for Medical Ethics and Law, University of Stellenbosch
Very helpful course for clinicians working in a resource limited setting where decisions regarding withholding or withdrawing treatment have to be made relatively frequently.
Dr Deveshni Reddy
Medical Doctor
This course is an eye opener and is very informative to all health care providers. Information is enormous and of value to everyone who has done this course.
Nthabiseng King
Professional Nurse
Available on mobile and web

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