The eiCOMPASS Project is helping home care organizations enhance their frontline providers’ skills and competencies to deliver a compassionate, emotionally responsive approach to care. Collaborating with home-based palliative care providers nationwide, we are supporting the adoption of the Canadian Interdisciplinary Palliative Care Competency Framework and a series of Emotional Intelligence online training courses and tools. These resources will empower home care providers to navigate complex emotional situations while delivering compassionate care to patients and their families. We invite you to learn more about how the Competency Framework can impact your organization and why emotional intelligence skills are essential for all members of the interdisciplinary palliative care team.
Unpacking the Competency Framework: Expert Perspectives
“The domains are perfect. I really appreciate the cultural safety and humility domain. A lot of the domains reflect what good care looks like, irrespective of the patient’s condition.”
Dr. Louise Clément, Executive Lead, Clinical Partnerships, Health Standards Organization
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“The Competency Framework matters because it gives people a set of ideologies, skills and knowledge and defines really good care.”
Jennifer Gurke, Executive Director,
PALLIATIVE MANITOBA
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“The competencies will lead to integrated care and will help everybody in the system do a good job, giving patients and families a good experience.”
Kelli I. Stajduhar, Professor, School of Nursing, University of Victoria and Canada Research Chair in Palliative Approaches to Care in Aging and Community Health
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Pablita Thomas,,
Executive Director
BC Hospice Palliative Care Association
Dr. David Henderson,
Senior Medical Director, Integrated Palliative Care, Nova Scotia Health Authority
Dr. Gordon McDonald
Palliative Care Physician,
New Brunswick
Dr. Ebru Kaya, President, Canadian Society of Palliative Care Physicians, Departmental Division Director Palliative Medicine, University of Toronto
Vivian Stang, Spiritual Care Practitioner, Canadian Association for Spiritual Care
Laurel Gillespie, Chief Executive Officer, Canadian Hospice Palliative Care Association
Kathleen Yue, Director of Strategic Initiatives, BC Centre For Palliative Care
Dr. Cathy Faulds,
Palliative Care Physician,
St. Joseph’s Health Centre
Dr. Charlie Chen,
Palliative Care Physician,
Calgary Zone, Alberta Health Services
Paul Adams,
Former caregiver
Kath Murray, Chief Executive Officer, Life and Death Matters
Erika Nicholson, Vice President, Cancer Control, Canadian Partnership Against Cancer
Jeffrey Moat, Chief Executive Officer, Pallium Canada
Nadine Valk, Director, Education and Strategic Partnerships, Hospice Palliative Care Ontario
Setting a Pan-Canadian Standard for Palliative Care Education
The Canadian Interdisciplinary Palliative Care Competency Framework provides a comprehensive outline of vital competencies required for offering exceptional palliative care, inclusive of home-based settings.
The benefits of implementing the Competency Framework include:
Consistency of Care: Ensures uniform palliative care across all settings.
Improved Care Quality: Outlines essential competencies, enhancing care quality.
Collaborative Care: Supports integrated multidisciplinary teams.
Increased Satisfaction: Standardized approach leads to higher patient satisfaction.
Reliable Care Teams: Ensures uniformly trained, dependable care teams.
Emotional Intelligence and Palliative Care
Emotional intelligence is fundamental in palliative care. It equips healthcare providers with the ability to navigate the emotional complexities due to dealing with life-limiting illnesses. It enables healthcare providers to respond with sensitivity and focus on the quality of life of patients and their families. By understanding and meeting the emotional needs of patients and their families, care becomes more patient-centered and compassionate. Emotionally intelligent healthcare providers work effectively in teams, better collaborating and communicating to ensure consistent and responsive care.
Emotional Intelligence Training Courses
A series of microlearning courses in emotional intelligence, each aligned with the 12 domains of Palliative Care in the Competency Framework. These interactive courses present skills and simple behaviours that can be practiced daily to enhance emotional intelligence.
The 15-minute microlearning courses enable learners to engage with the content in small, manageable chunks, making it convenient to incorporate into busy schedules while promoting better retention of information.
Emotional Intelligence Conversation Guides
Six conversation guides designed to boost the confidence of healthcare providers when communicating with patients and caregivers, particularly in emotionally challenging situations that arise during home emergencies.
Each guide provides practical content to plan, manage, and respond to emergencies, offering tips and tools for patients and families, empowering them to navigate challenging circumstances effectively.
Participants in the CHCA SPRINT Implementation Collaborative will have early access to the learning courses and conversation guides beginning in September 2023. The resources will be available for general access in the fall of 2024
Implementing the Competency Framework and Learning Courses: SPRINT Collaborative™
CHCA SPRINT Implementation Collaborative™ Framework
The CHCA SPRINT Implementation Collaboratives are inspired by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement Collaborative Model for Achieving Breakthrough Improvement, the Evidence-Based System for Innovation Support, and the COM-B model for behaviour change. The SPRINT Collaboratives focus on facilitating rapid and effective changes that require minimal investment and time, yet deliver significant results. Teams who participate in the SPRINT Collaborative will utilize and refine the Competency Framework, the EI Training Courses, and Conversation Guides to achieve a range of desired outcomes.
This project has been made possible through a financial contribution from Health Canada.
The views expressed herein do not necessarily represent the views of Health Canada.
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