Unit ADE - Palliative and hospice care in veterinary medicine

Course
Veterinary medicine
Study-unit Code
A001158
Curriculum
In all curricula
Teacher
Giorgia Della Rocca
Teachers
  • Giorgia Della Rocca
Hours
  • 25 ore - Giorgia Della Rocca
CFU
1
Course Regulation
Coorte 2017
Offered
2021/22
Learning activities
A scelta dello studente
Area
A scelta dello studente
Academic discipline
VET/07
Type of study-unit
Opzionale (Optional)
Type of learning activities
Attività formativa monodisciplinare
Language of instruction
Italian
Contents
Discussion about the main principles of palliative and hospice care in companion animals, from theory to clinical cases.
Reference texts
Textbook: G. della Rocca, M.B. Conti. Terapie palliative e cure di fine vita in medicina veterinaria. Poletto Editore, 2018.
Pdf available on "Unistudium" platform.
Educational objectives
D1 - KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING ABILITY
The student must acquire basic knowledge related to:
- Principles of palliative and hospice care
- Management of symptoms related to the disease
- Feeding and hydration management
- Management of mobility, hygiene, comfort and safety
- Management of the animal's social and emotional needs
- Assessment of quality of life and euthanasia
- Burn-out

D2 - ABILITY TO APPLY KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING
At the end of the training activity the student must have the necessary bases to be able to make a reasoned choice setting up appropriate palliative protocols to be adopted in the veterinary clinical practice, with a view to the correct management of patients suffering from incurable or terminal diseases.

D3 - AUTONOMY OF JUDGMENT
At the end of the training the student must be able to set up appropriate palliative protocols to be adopted in the veterinary clinical practice, being able to distinguish among the various possibilities in order to apply the most suitable in the presented pathological condition, in view the most correct patient management.

D4 - COMMUNICATION SKILLS
At the end of the training the student will be able to:
- know how to organize, prepare and exhibit, to an audience made up of people of equal level of preparation, a presentation on a non conventional technique with its own evaluations supported by appropriate arguments;
- support an adversarial process with people of equal preparation and experts in different issues, of a regulatory, scientific, procedural and / or technological nature;
- demonstrate language properties in both written and oral form, as well as the ability to use terminology that is sufficiently appropriate for a correct approach to the profession, which is also important for job interviews.

D5 - LEARNING SKILLS
At the end of the training the student will be able to:
- consult and understand scientific texts, even innovative ones, bibliographic updates, normative dictations, in such a way as to employ them in contexts not only usual for the profession, including research, but also originals;
- possess a sufficiently broad mastery of the subject to guarantee an acceptable basis for continuing professional updating throughout life, through ongoing lifelong learning.
Prerequisites
The knowledge of pharmacology is a prerequisite for the student who wants to follow the course with profit.
Teaching methods
The course is organized as follows:
- Lectures on the main topic of the course.
- Supervised discussions within small student's groups on the topics listed in the program.
- Self-directed learning (SDL) activity: preparation and description of clinical cases based on on-line research and material provided by the teacher.
Other information

Learning verification modality
Multiple-choice test on course topics or brief report (eg. clinical case).
Extended program
Guidelines for palliative and hospice care (1 hour).
Pain management in patients with chronic or terminal diseases (1 hour).
Management of symptoms related to the underlying pathology and/or arising as a result of physical decay of the animal and/or treatments (1 hour).
Management of nutrition and hydration (1 hour).
Mobility management (1 hour).
Hygiene, comfort and safety management (1 hour).
Management of the social and emotional animal needs (1 hour).
Quality of life evaluation (1 hour).
Euthanasia and natural death (1 hour).
The vet burn-out (1 hour).Clinical cases (from diagnosis to therapy): application of a palliative and hospice approach in various pathologic conditions (15 h - SDL).
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