Advance Care Planning (ACP) for Doctors

Advance Care Planning and Shared Decision Making (SDM) are central components of high-quality, person-centered care. Good ACP discussions reduce uncertainty, strengthen self-determination and improve the course of treatment for patients and families – and they take the pressure off the treatment team.

In the course you benefit from:

• Realistic conversation simulations with trained actors
• Structured discussion guidelines and clear communication strategies for different clinical situations
• Safe, protected practice space to navigate difficult topics such as prognosis, therapy goals and priorities
• Individual, cross-professional feedback from experts in medicine, nursing and communication
• Practical tools that are directly transferable to everyday clinical practice

Clear, forward-looking discussions are essential in an increasingly complex healthcare environment – for patients, relatives and teams. Good ACP communication is not intuitive, but needs to be learned, practiced and reflected upon.

Learning objectives

Some aspects of Advance Care Planning for physicians include:

1. Communication: Doctors should actively communicate with their patients to understand their values, priorities and preferences in relation to medical decisions. This often requires empathetic conversations about end-of-life issues.
2. Documentation: It is important to document the results of these discussions in the patient’s medical records. This can help to ensure that medical decisions are made in accordance with the patient’s individual wishes, even if they are no longer able to express their preferences.
3. Training: Doctors should educate themselves on the principles and best practices of Advance Care Planning to ensure that they can work effectively with their patients. Training can also help to overcome possible ethical dilemmas.
4. Interdisciplinary collaboration: ACP often requires collaboration between different healthcare providers, including nurses, social workers and other professionals. Coordinated interdisciplinary collaboration is crucial to ensure that the patient’s individual needs are respected.

Advance Care Planning helps to make patient care more patient-centered and to ensure that medical decisions are made in accordance with individual values and preferences.

Contents

• Basics of ACP and SDM
• Legal and ethical aspects
• Conversation
• Simulation exercises with actors (incl. structured debriefing)

Learning methods

5 hours of self-study (e-learning)
8 hours of classroom instruction

Target group

For doctors, ACP plays an important role in patient care as it enables them to better understand what kind of medical care the patient wants or rejects in different scenarios. This process facilitates dialog between physicians and patients on topics such as life-sustaining measures, palliative care, organ transplantation and other serious medical decisions.

Requirements

• Completed medical studies
• The training includes preparatory assignments of approx. 5 hours. Successful completion of these preparatory modules (E-Learning ACP and E-Learning Resuscitation Decisions) is a prerequisite for participation in the classroom course.

Conclusion

SIWF/FMH: 12 credits
SGMO: 7 credits

Costs

• Course price for external participants from Zurich healthcare institutions: CHF 599 (incl. access to e-learning, training material, refreshments during breaks & lunch)
• Course price for participants from institutions outside the canton: CHF 1,199 (incl. access to e-learning, training material, catering during breaks & lunch)

An early booking discount is possible. Please get in touch with us.

Lecturers

Prof. Dr. med. Tanja Krones

Dr. med. Barbara Stefanie Loupatatzis

GTC

The minimum number of participants for the course is 5. If this number is not reached, we reserve the right to cancel the course at least two weeks before the start of the course.

Deregistrations

We charge a course fee of CHF 150.00 up to 30 days before the start of the course.
Up to 15 days before the start of the course we charge a course fee of CHF 250.00
Less than 15 days before the start of the course, we charge 100% of the course costs

Liability

The USZ is not liable in the event of theft or loss of personal belongings during educational events.

Accident

Accident insurance is the responsibility of the participants.

Notes

• The course is divided into two parts. The first part covers the basics of ACP and SDM as well as communication training. The second part deals with emergency planning using the ACP-NOPA web application.
• The ACP-NOPA part can only be attended after successful completion of the first part of the course.
• SIWF/FMH-Approved The advanced training in Advance Care Planning (ACP) and Emergency Planning for Hospital Physicians has been recognized by the Swiss Institute for Continuing Medical Education (SIWF) with 12 credits.
• SGMO 7 credits