FAQ’s Caru Workshops
What is Caru? Caru is a free five-year, multi-stranded, evidence-based continuous learning programme. It is available to all disciplines of nursing home staff and those working in Older Person Services. What is the vision for Caru in your organisation? An organisation that is supportive and empowering of all nursing home staff in their delivery of palliative, end-of-life and bereavement care to residents and families. Caru supports the ethos of person-centred, compassionate and empathic palliative, end-of-life and bereavement care.
What are the Caru Workshops? Workshop One: Person-Centred Approach to Palliative Care
This Workshop examines the importance of a person-centred approach to palliative care, end-of-life, and bereavement care in the nursing home. We will help you identify the end- of-life values of your organisation and how these impact on the care delivered. We review the levels of palliative care and identify which are appropriate to your organisation. We will also outline how to communicate effectively in palliative, end-of-life, and bereavement care conversations, with a special focus on the importance of advance care planning. Workshop Two: The Caru Reflection This Workshop looks more in-depth at the impact of working with residents and families at end of life. We discuss bereavement in a personal and professional context, the importance of reflection and resilience, and identify self-care strategies for you and your team. This Workshop will also train Caru Leads to complete the Caru Review Process. You will learn how to facilitate a Caru Reflection as well as the steps in forwarding a Bereaved Relatives and Friends Questionnaire. Workshop Three: The Caru Review Process and its Role in Change In the final Workshop, we examine how learning from the Caru Reflection can identify opportunities for sustained change in your organisation. As a group, we discuss how to prepare for change, how to overcome the barriers in implementing change and how to design, deliver, and evaluate a successful quality improvement initiative. This Workshop has practical exercises within it to ensure Caru Leads leave feeling confident embedding the process within your own nursing home.
All Workshops have NMBI accreditation and certificates will be provided. On completion of all three Workshops the nursing home will receive a certificate of achievement award.
Who can attend? Caru Workshops are open to all nursing home staff who care directly for residents. Staff are nominated by their managers and should attend all four of the scheduled Workshops. When choosing Caru Leads for the Workshops, it is recommended that one participant at a minimum, has the experience to lead the group. What is the role of senior management in supporting Caru? The role of senior management in the support of the Caru Process is essential. It is crucial that the Caru Group is supported in its functions and that staff are encouraged and facilitated to attend Caru Reflections. Additionally, providing protected time for the group to meet quarterly, complete the reflections and forward the Bereavement Questionnaire are key to the success of the Caru Process. Senior management has a key role in supporting quality improvement initiatives identified by the Caru Group.
What is the Caru Review Process? The Caru Review Process has three components:
The Caru Group is established Caru Reflections are facilitated by trained staff The Caru Bereaved Relatives and Friends Questionnaire is sent with consent
Undertaking all three components of this process can result in potential quality improvement initiatives for your organisation.
What is the Caru Group and its functions? Consists of the Caru Leads who attended all four Workshops (Caru Leads) and other staff with an interest in palliative, end-of-life, and bereavement care. The Caru Group meets a minimum of four times a year. They review the feedback from the Caru Reflections and Bereaved Relatives and Friends Questionnaire and determine possible quality improvement initiatives that can build on existing good practice. They promote the Caru vision and ethos within your organisation.
What are Caru Reflections and why should we do them? The purpose of a Caru Reflection is to offer staff the opportunity to remember the resident who has died and to reflect on the palliative, end-of-life, and bereavement care provided to them. Reflection on the residents’ care will help to identify practices that are done well and areas for improvement. Caru Reflections take place 1-4 weeks following the death of a resident. A Caru Lead will identify a time and place where the meeting can be held. All staff that cared for that resident will be invited to attend. Reflections require 45 minutes to complete. Time to prepare for and debrief following the event will also be required. The reflection uses the 9 Domains of Care to explore all aspects of palliative, end-of- life, and bereavement care. Caru Leads are encouraged to discuss what went well and what suggestions they would make around improvements. Information collected at the Reflection will be reviewed at Cau Group Meetings to assist in identifying areas of change with the possibility of developing quality improvement initiatives. What is the Bereaved Relatives and Friends Questionnaire? The Questionnaire has been designed to invite structured feedback from families and friends of residents. It provides an opportunity for the family to reflect on the care their loved one received during their stay in the nursing home and the support provided to family and friends also. Quarterly Caru Review Process Feedback Form The form is an quarterly Caru Review Process Feedback Questionnaire that will provide us with feedback on how the Caru Review Process is working in your nursing home. The type of feedback required will be the number of residents that died, number of Caru Reflections undertaken, number of family members contacted regarding the Bereaved Relative’s Questionnaire, the number of questionnaires sent, and number returned. This feedback will help us in the ongoing development of the programme and will also be provided to our funders, the HSE.
Irish Hospice Foundation, Morrison Chambers, 32 Nassau Street, Dublin 2, D02 X627 | Tel: (01) 679 3188 | Registered Charity 20013554 caru.ie
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