The Education in Palliative Care (EPC) Course Series
Learn how to integrate the palliative approach to care into your practice!
The Education in Palliative Care (EPC) course series will introduce you to providing person-centred palliative care for patients living with serious illness such as cancer, end-stage renal disease (ESRD), congestive heart failure (CHF), or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). With palliative care support, patients report fewer symptoms, better quality of life, and greater satisfaction with their care.
The Education in Palliative Care (EPC) course series consists of three courses that teach a comprehensive curriculum in palliative and end-of-life care:
- Course 01 – The Palliative Approach to Care Available Now!
- * Course 02 – Symptom Assessment and Management in Palliative Care Available Now!
- * Course 03 – End-of-Life Care, Grief, and Loss Available Now!
* Prerequisite: Successful completion of Course 01 – The Palliative Approach to Care (EPCA) course is required to register in this course.

Completing all three courses in the series will earn you the de Souza Certificate in Palliative and End-of-Life Care.
The certificate signifies that you have obtained a comprehensive education and reached a standard of knowledge about palliative care based on the CHPCA national principles and norms of practice and the de Souza Interprofessional Competency framework.
The Education in Palliative Care (EPC) course series
The Palliative Approach to Care (EPCA)
The Palliative Approach to Care course is the foundational course in de Souza Institute’s Education in Palliative Care (EPC) course series. It is divided into three sections with ten modules in total. The first course section, Serious Illness Conversations, teaches in-depth strategies for how to have difficult conversations with patients regarding prognosis, life-expectancy, goals of care, and advance care planning. The second section, Comprehensive Pain and Symptom Assessment, introduces you to pain and symptom assessment from a holistic and patient-centred approach. The third section, Person and Family-centred Palliative Care, explores working with the patient and their caregivers as the unit of care and resolving potential conflicts around care decisions.
The Education in Palliative Care (EPC) course series
Symptom Assessment and Management in Palliative Care (EPCB)
Symptom management is a core skill in palliative care that improves the quality of life of patients living with serious illness. This second course is divided into four modules and one case-based practice activity covering the focused assessment and management of four common symptoms experienced by patients in palliative care: pain, delirium, nausea and vomiting, and dyspnea.