Capstone: your practice portfolio

How this capstone works

You have spent fourteen modules learning what an end-of-life doula does, what one does not do, and how to stand beside a care team without getting in its way. This module asks you to put that into your own words, in seven parts. Each part has a box. What you type is saved in this browser on this device as you type; nothing is sent anywhere. At the bottom of the page, your study record gathers your module progress, your notes and these seven parts into one plain-text document you can download or print.

Three rules for the whole portfolio:

• Invent, do not record. Use invented names and details, or yourself. Never type a real client's name, diagnosis or address here.
• Write for a stranger. Imagine a hospice volunteer coordinator reading it. Would they understand what you do, and trust that you know where your role stops?
• Be honest. A "not yet" is more useful to you than a hopeful "yes".

You can do this in several sittings. Come back to it after your first real-world practice, too; a portfolio is meant to change.

Part 1. My scope statement

A scope statement is a short, plain description of your role that you could hand to a family or a nurse. Module 1 introduced it; modules 11 and 14 tested it. Write three short paragraphs:

• What I do: for example, "I sit with people who are dying and with their families. I help them talk about what matters, plan the last days and the vigil, make legacy projects, and I stay beside them after the death."
• What I do not do: for example, "I am not a nurse or a doctor. I do not give or advise on medicines, assess symptoms, lift or move a person, pronounce death, give legal advice or fill in legal forms."
• Who I call: for example, "For anything medical, day or night: the hospice 24-hour line. In an emergency: 911. If someone is thinking about suicide: 988. For forms and legal questions: the family's own lawyer or the hospice social worker."

Part 2. My vigil plan

In Module 6 you filled in a practice vigil plan, element by element; those notes are already in your study record. Here, write the one-page version you would actually walk a family through: the order you raise things in, the questions you ask, and the safety points you say out loud (the hospice number by the phone, no open flame near oxygen, who covers nights). Keep it about an invented person, or about yourself.

Part 3. A values conversation, summarised

Hold a practice values conversation (Module 5) with a friend who has agreed to practise with you, or invent one. Then summarise it here without identifying details. Use these headings:

• What matters most to them now, in their words.
• What worries or frightens them.
• Who they would want to speak for them, and whether that person knows.
• What they want their clinicians and family to know, and who will tell them (not you).
• What I noticed about my own listening: where I steered, filled a silence, or offered an opinion.

If the conversation was with a real person, ask them what they want done with it. They may want to put their wishes in writing on their state's form (see advance directives); that is theirs to do, with their clinician or lawyer, not yours to draft.

Part 5. My sustainability plan, on one page

In Module 12 you wrote a sustainability plan in seven parts; those notes are in your study record. Here, condense it into one page you could pin above your desk: your early warning signs, your caseload and on-call limits, your backup doula, your debrief routine, how you mark each death, who supports you, and what would tell you to pause. If you are ever in crisis yourself, call or text 988.

Part 6. Readiness self-assessment

Tick each statement that is true for you today. Leave it unticked if the honest answer is "not yet". Your ticks are kept on this device; they are not added to the downloaded record, so copy any "not yet" into Part 7.

Ticks appear here when JavaScript is on.

• I can explain in one minute what an end-of-life doula does and does not do. (Module 1)
• I can describe common changes near death in plain words, and I know which ones mean "call the team now". (Module 2)
• I can explain the difference between palliative care and hospice, and how a family reaches the hospice 24-hour line. (Module 3)
• I can sit in silence without filling it, and reflect back what I heard. (Module 4)
• I can open a values conversation without steering it, and I do not draft or fill in legal forms. (Module 5)
• I can walk a family through a vigil plan, including the rule of no open flame near oxygen. (Module 6)
• I can notice caregiver strain and point the family to respite and the hospice social worker. (Module 7)
• I ask about faith, culture and custom rather than assume. (Module 8)
• I can offer legacy projects with consent and without pressure. (Module 9)
• I know what usually happens in the first hours after a death, and that pronouncing death is a clinician's job. (Module 10)
• If someone raises medical aid in dying, stopping eating and drinking, or suicide, I know how I will respond within the law and whom I will call. (Module 11)
• I can name three requests I will decline, and the words I will use. (Module 11)
• I have written my warning signs, a caseload limit and the name of a backup doula. (Module 12)
• My notes are brief, factual and kept where only I can open them. (Module 13)
• I have looked up my state's reporting duties for children and vulnerable adults. (Module 13)
• I will not lift or transfer a person, and I know when to leave a visit. (Module 13)
• I can make a hand-off in SBAR-lite without offering a clinical judgment. (Module 14)
• I know who is on a hospice team and which questions belong to whom. (Module 14)
• I have a draft written agreement that says what I do, what I do not do, and that I am not a clinician. (Module 13)
• I have arranged, or know how to seek, supervised practice or a mentor. (Part 7)

Part 7. What I still need

Here is the honest part. Reading, however careful, cannot replace being in the room. The best next step for a new doula is supervised, real-world practice: sitting with dying people and families while someone experienced watches, debriefs with you, and tells you what they saw. Many hospices train and supervise volunteers; federal rules require hospices to provide volunteer orientation and training and to use volunteers in defined roles under the supervision of a designated hospice employee. That makes a local hospice's volunteer program one of the most direct routes to supervised practice. Ask what it involves before you commit.

Write down, specifically, what you still need. Consider:

• Supervised practice: which hospice or program near you takes volunteers, and what it asks of them (Module 13 lists common requirements).
• Mentorship: an experienced doula or hospice professional who will debrief with you.
• Further training: if you want a credential, it comes from an organization that grants one, not from here. The field has no single credentialing body; our resources page lists some training organizations without ranking them. Ask each what its program does and does not certify.
• Local rules: your state's reporting duties, privacy law, and anything that affects how you set up your work.
• Insurance and agreements: questions for an insurance agent and a local advisor, and a written agreement you are ready to use.
• Your own "not yet" items from Part 6.