• Getting Started
  • Using Cancer Learning
  • Frameworks
  • Key Documents
  • EdCaN Learning Resources
  • Engaging GPs
  • Guide to CPI
  • Consumer Participation
  • Mentoring Programs

Cancer Care Professional Development Framework

The purpose of this framework is to guide cancer care providers and networks in planning, developing and implementing professional development activities and programs.

The Framework is based on:

  • The stages and needs of people with cancer as they move along the "patient pathway."
  • The "optimal service outcomes" stemming from those needs and described in the National Service Improvement Framework for Cancer Services and recent state and territory cancer plans.
  • The priority service areas identified by the needs analysis conducted in phase I of the PD project.
  • Current evidence based guidelines for areas of professional practice.

It is presented as a matrix which describes: the needs of people with cancer; the optimal services to meet those needs; and the organisational support required for health professionals to acquire the knowledge and skills to provide the optimum service.

The Framework has been validated by national and international experts.

Download the Cancer Care Professional Development Framework

EdCaN National Professional Development Framework for Cancer Nursing

The EdCaN curriculum framework aims to provide:

  • A framework and guiding principles for curriculum design and evaluation
  • Guidance to educators in academic and clinical settings in ways to facilitate desired learning outcomes in relation to cancer nursing
  • A tool including criteria for use by those involved in evaluating or accrediting curricula when determining the adequacy with which curricula address cancer care
  • Guidance for students regarding the capabilities required of them in practice and methods for achieving these capabilities
  • Guidance for employers as to the expected capabilities of nurses at various levels with respect to cancer care
  • Guidance for administrators and policy makers with respect to curriculum design and required resources for achieving desired graduate outcomes
  • Information for consumers as to expected standards of nursing care.

Download the EdCaN Framework

A series of learning resources, available on the EdCaN Learning Resources page, incorporating case based learning activities have been developed to support this framework.

The learning resources include a set of 5 modules supported by case studies, each based around a theme integral to developing the desired graduate capabilities:

Professional Practice
Supportive Care and Information Provision
Collaborative Practice
Disease and treatment related care
Coordinated Care

The modules and associated learning objectives have been developed at different levels: generalist; specialist; and advanced. The resources and supporting teaching materials can be integrated into in a variety of curriculum contexts, and delivered via a variety of flexible modes of delivery.

Educators and learners can use the whole or parts of the resources. A detailed facilitator’s guide accompanies each module.