Blog

National Advance Care Planning Week is an annual initiative by Advance Care Planning Australia that encourages all Australians, regardless of their age or health status, to make their future health care preferences known. Jennifer Tieman Director of CareSearch discusses the importance of advance care planning and the need to start more conversations about death and dying.

Many people do not receive the right care at the end of life in residential aged care. Nigel McGothigan from LASA discusses complexities of the Aged Care Industry and the importance of resources such as the palliAGED Practice Tip Sheets for aged care workers to support them in providing exceptional and exemplary care.

Many people working in aged care are faced with challenges of not knowing what to do for someone in their care. Prosper Sithole from Bupa Aged Care Australia discusses her experience has a registered nurse working in aged care and how access to evidence-based resources, such as the palliAGED practice tip sheets, can support those looking after the elderly.

Across residential and home-based aged care at least 70% of direct care (“hands on” care) is provided by careworkers. Many of the people they care for could benefit from palliative care. To support current and future careworkers to understand and build capacity in palliative care, palliAGED managed by CareSearch, have launched an entry-point collection of evidence-based learning resources: palliAGED Practice Tip Sheets for Careworkers in aged care. Dr Katrina Erny-Albrecht, Professor Jennifer Tieman and Susan Gravier from CareSearch discuss this new freely-available palliAGED resource and how it is responding to the need for sector support while aged care issues are part of the conversation.

Susan Gravier and Paul Tait from CareSearch and Southern Adelaide Palliative Services discuss the newly revised Symptoms and Medicines pages in the palliAGED Practice Centre and how this information and resources can help nurse practitioners and general practitioners in symptom management of older Australians in their last days of life.