Fatigue in Palliative Care: Recognising its Impact and Essentials of Management
Short course
1 hour
Online
3 CPD points
(70% average required)
Course overview
The Fatigue in Palliative Care: Recognising Its Impact and Essentials of Management is a PALPRAC e-learning course that addresses one of the most common yet under-recognised symptoms in patients with advanced illness.
Designed for clinicians providing palliative care across settings, the course offers practical, evidence-based strategies to identify, assess and manage fatigue effectively. Learners will explore fatigue's multifactorial nature; spanning physical, psychological, social and spiritual dimensions; and gain confidence in using appropriate assessment tools and both non-pharmacological and pharmacological interventions.
Through a person-centred, culturally sensitive lens, the module highlights approaches that enhance patient comfort, restore a sense of control and support families and caregivers in daily care.
Who is this course for?
Required qualification
Course level
Develop your professional skills
Why choose this course?
- Define fatigue in palliative care and explain its clinical significance.
- Differentiate between primary and secondary fatigue.
- Explain the pathophysiological mechanisms underpinning fatigue.
- Conduct a structured fatigue assessment using validated tools.
- Recognise the interplay between cachexia and fatigue.
- Implement management strategies that include treating underlying factors, non-pharmacological interventions, and appropriate pharmacological options.
- Apply a person-centred, culturally sensitive approach to fatigue management.
About the academic institution
PALPRAC is a national network of healthcare professionals dedicated to improving quality of life for people living with serious illness. Founded in 2018, we bring together doctors, nurses, and allied health professionals to deliver compassionate, person-centred palliative care across Southern Africa. Through education, advocacy, and collaboration, we equip multidisciplinary teams to relieve suffering, support dignity, and honour what matters most to patients and their families. We support healthcare professionals to be change agents in their own settings, and we engage with the wider health system to drive the changes needed to ensure everyone has access to quality palliative care. All healthcare professionals are welcome to join, with membership options to suit every role and level of experience.
Over 300 members
Various healthcare providers
Spread across South Africa
PALPRAC contact info
Follow PALRAC on social media
Course Lessons
Course developer
Dr Maggie de Swardt is a family physician and senior lecturer in Palliative Medicine at the University of Cape Town. She teaches across undergraduate and postgraduate programmes and supervises MPhil students in Palliative Medicine. Clinically, she works in the Groote Schuur Hospital Palliative Care Unit, managing patients across multiple wards, and also serves in the Heideveld Emergency Unit. With postgraduate qualifications in both palliative medicine and health professions education, Dr de Swardt combines frontline clinical experience with academic expertise. Her work focuses on improving symptom control and quality of life for patients with advanced illness, while strengthening the training of healthcare professionals in compassionate, evidence-based palliative care.
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