The goal of this e-learning is to inform everyone who comes into contact with ALS about what ALS entails and how the various aspects of the disease can be integrated into discussions about palliative care. We aim to help them explore their own strengths and limits and provide an overview of what is possible in palliative care across different settings. Our hope is that this will lead to a higher quality of life for all ALS patients until the very end.
About e-learning.
In September 2020, we received a project call from the King Baudouin Foundation and the Marianne & Jean Mechelynck Fund for projects supporting professionals and volunteers in communicating and discussing palliative care with patients and their loved ones. With their support and in collaboration with all neuromuscular reference centers in Belgium, we created a bilingual e-learning program for all caregivers involved in ALS patient care. This program focuses on knowledge acquisition and attitude development, working from a patient-centered and experience-based approach.
With this e-learning, we aim to break the taboo that still surrounds palliative care. To this day, it is too strongly associated with terminal care, which often causes all parties to avoid this important conversation. In this context, the ALS League has previously advocated for redefining palliative care as supportive care, making it more accessible and moving away from the terminal connotation.
Although the project call was aimed at professionals, we have also made the e-learning accessible to patients and their loved ones.
On June 21, 2022, World ALS Day, the e-learning became freely accessible via e-learning.als.be.