Course ID: FQUEWU107
Course Name: Relief of Pain at the End of Life
Credits: 1

Course Description
This one contact hour home-study continuing education course focuses on the relief of pain at the end of life. The responsibilities of nursing to promote comfort, assess pain, and provide pain relief are discussed. Independent nursing measures for pain relief along with interdisciplinary measures are reviewed.

About the Author
Dr. Joyce Zerwekh has a masters degree in nursing from New York University and a doctorate in educational leadership from Seattle University. She is a national leader in hospice care. In 1979 she began her hospice nursing focus as a staff nurse and soon became the first clinical coordinator at Hospice of Seattle. In 1984 she co-authored the first American nursing textbook in the field, Hospice and Palliative Nursing Care. In 1987 she wrote the first nursing journal article questioning whether intravenous fluids provided comfort at the end-of-life. She has published numerous articles on palliative care. Dr. Zewekh is currently Professor of Nursing at Florida Atlantic University and serves on the national board of the Hospice and Palliative Nurses Association.

Course Objectives
Upon completion of this home-study continuing education course, the participant will be able to:

1. Discuss nursing responsibility for relieving pain at the end-of-life.
2. Identify personal fears that prevent comforting response to pain at the end-of-life.
3. Discuss the effect of opioids on respiration when pain is present.
4. Define addiction, contrast it with physiological dependence and explain the likelihood of addiction in patients treated with opioids for pain.
5. Identify essential elements of pain assessment.
6. Identify principles of pain control at the end-of-life.
7. Discuss palliative effects and side effects of opioids.
8. Explain alternatives to oral dosing.
9. Describe the actions of the most common adjuvant analgesics.
10. Explain the use of caring presence in patients in pain.
11. Identify a personal strategy to advocate with physicians on behalf of patients in pain.