End of Life Choices New York

Course Description

This course provides an overview of end of life treatment options, advance care planning, palliative care, life-sustaining treatments and hospice. After completing the course, participants will be better prepared to help their clients have their health care wishes honored and receive more effective end of life care.

This course includes a recorded presentation by Laurie Leonard, MBA, MSW. Laurie served as the Executive Director of End of Life Choices New York from 2016 to 2019. She developed an interest in death and dying, which led her to doing hospice volunteer work, becoming a licensed social worker, and then working as a home care social worker for a hospice in New York City. 

Learning Objectives:

After completing the course, participants will be able to:

• Explain why dying is very different today than it was a hundred years ago.
• Describe the difference between a health care proxy, a living will, a MOLST form, and a do not resuscitate order.
• Identify specific laws that protect patients’ rights to make their own choices about the type of care they want.
• State what palliative care is and when it can benefit patients.
• Define hospice care and describe how hospice can provide for a better quality of life and a more peaceful death.
• Explain why pain is under-treated, and what can be done about it.

Completion of this course counts as 1 contact hour for licensed NY social workers. 

Course participation involves watching a recorded presentation and completing a quiz. You must receive a score of at least 80% to pass the course, but may retake the quiz as needed. A certificate of completion will automatically be issued after completion of the course.

End of Life Choices New York, Inc. is recognized by the New York State Education Department’s State Board for Social Work as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed social workers #SW-0464.