The Canadian Virtual Hospice website has a wealth of information for those who provide palliative, end-of-life and bereavement care. In Topics, you will find an extensive selection of articles written by our Canadian Virtual Hospice clinical team on common palliative and end-of-life care issues. In Asked and Answered, you will find answers to questions on a range of palliative care topics. Although prepared for the general public, this information offers foundational knowledge to someone new to the specialty.

Tools for Practice provides information specifically for practitioners, such as identified protocols, advanced practices, and assessment and evaluation tools. You can also browse through Courses and Conferences for upcoming learning opportunities.

Here are some organizations and colleges that offer courses in palliative care that are open to LPNs:

• Life and Death Matters is an organization started by an experienced hospice palliative care nurse on Vancouver Island. It offers a range of educational materials and online courses.
• Grant MacEwan University in Alberta offers distance education in palliative care and gerontology for health care providers. The university offers a post-RN certificate program and a non-credit course in compassionate care for LPNs, chaplains, care aides, volunteers and others.
  

Various provincial LPN organizations are also working on competencies that include palliative care, such as Alberta’s Competency Profile.