Paramedics and Palliative Care Resources

This page provides additional resources for organizations or jurisdictions interested in implementing a palliative approach to care for paramedic services. These resources should be reviewed alongside the Paramedics and Palliative Care: Bringing Vital Services to Canadians change package, which includes additional resources such as local program model and education summaries.

The resources below are from organizations that participated in the Paramedics and Palliative Care: Bringing Vital Services to Canadians program, including teams, coaches, Healthcare Excellence Canada and the Canadian Partnership Against Cancer.

Communications and Awareness Resources 

See the Paramedics and Palliative Care program in action in some of the participating jurisdictions: 

Alberta 

• EMS Palliative and End of Life Care Family Experience video 

British Columbia 

• Patient Story: Palliative Care video 
• Paramedic Practice: Palliative Care video  

Nova Scotia 

• Paramedics Providing Palliative Care at Home™ program video  
• Special Patient Program brochure  

Prince Edward Island 

• Paramedics Providing Palliative Care At Home – Prince Edward Island 

Palliative Care Competency Frameworks 

The following frameworks detail the competencies required by paramedics to provide palliative care: 

• The Nova Scotia Palliative Care Competency Framework 
• The Ontario Palliative Care Competency Framework 
• Alberta Emergency Medical Responders’ and Paramedics’ Palliative Care Competency Framework  
• The Canadian Interdisciplinary Palliative Care Competency Framework 

Education Resources 

The following resources were used to develop and deliver education to participating teams: 

• Pallium Canada's Learning Essential Approaches to Palliative Care (LEAP) 
• Canadian Virtual Hospice’s MyGriefToolBox for Paramedics  

Patients, Families, and Caregiver Engagement Resources 

The following resources were used by participating teams to help form meaningful partnerships with patient, family and caregiver advisors: 

• 7 Quick Tips for Working with Patient, Family and Caregiver Partners in Co-design 
• Patient Voices Network (British Columbia) Engagement Resources 
• The Manitoba Institute for Patient Safety Patient Engagement Resources  
• The Manitoba Institute for Patient Safety Declaration of Patient [Person] and Family Engagement  
• Patient Engagement Resource Hub  
• Canadian Institutes of Health Research Patient Engagement in Research Resources  

Evaluation Resources 

The following resources were used by participating teams for program evaluation, data collection and research and publication: 

• Public Health Ontario’s 10 Steps to Evaluation  
• Colleaga's article on Healthcare Privacy Legislation in Canada 

Change Management Resources  

The following resources were used by participating teams to support change management strategies: 

• Institute for Healthcare Improvement: Science of Improvement 
• Institute for Health Improvement: How to Improve 
• The 4 Change Principles 
• The 8-step Process for Leading Change 
• Policy Readiness Tool  
• Quality Improvement Primer: Partnering with Patients, Families & Caregivers in Co-designing Care
• Readiness to Receive Assessment Tool  
• Readiness to Spread Assessment Tool  
• National Health Service Stakeholder Analysis Tool 
• International Association for Public Participation (2018). IAP2 Spectrum of Public Participation