Master I in Case Manager for Primary and Palliative Care (Vicenza)

Chronic illnesses are a priority for primary care services. People with chronic and/or multiple diseases require continuous, multidisciplinary care for treatment to be effective. To ensure continuity of care and responsibility by local facilities, regional strategic planning is aiming towards a new "network" structure of hospital and local services . This local care network would provide more hospital beds locally; protected, assisted discharge programmes; home hospitalisation programmes; and community nursing teams who travel to patients’ homes, offering a range of levels of care assistance. Local Health Units currently house a Palliative Care Centre which is dedicated to looking after patients with incurable illnesses, in advanced stages of disease or at the end of their life. The current local organisation structure and the complexities of care management point towards a necessity for nurses to acquire new skills. The Masters programme aims to respond to this need, following the recommendations of the Veneto’s Regional Plan by educating professionals capable of becoming “nurse case managers” with skills in clinical care, organisation and management in the area of primary and palliative care management.