palliAGED updates

Pharmacists have a role in the care of older Australians with palliative care needs. Our new section lists resources that are relevant to contemporary Australian pharmacy practice and the potential role of pharmacists in palliative care.

Nurses have a key role in caring for older people at the end of life and in providing palliative care. Our new section supports nurses with guidance for best practice palliative care based on the evidence we have identified and appraised.

The palliAGED online learning modules for nurses have been well-received by the aged care sector. We have received positive feedback on the modules, as well as several requests by aged care services to integrate these into their learning management systems (LMS). 

Based on the palliAGED Practice Tip Sheets and covering 10 essential topics, the free and evidence-based modules are designed to support nurses engaging with aged care and/or palliative care for the first time. Email us to find out how you include the modules to your organisation's LMS.

Sometimes people can deteriorate suddenly. In this case anticipatory medicines may not have been arranged. Our Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) prescriber bag list (199kb pdf) includes medications that can be used to relieve symptoms in this situation and tips on practical considerations.

Organisations providing Commonwealth subsidised aged care services are required to comply with the Quality Standards. Our new page Understanding the Standards outlines how each of the standards speaks to palliative care, and the resources that can support you and your organisation.

The palliAGED team has developed new online learning modules for nurses to support capacity building for palliative care in aged care.

The interactive modules cover 10 essential topics and will help aged care nurses to learn the fundamentals of palliative care, as well as prepare to support older persons at the end of life.

The modules are designed for self-paced learning, are free to use, and come with supporting resources such as an online manual, forms, validated tools, and Practice Tip booklet/sheets.

Each module comes with a certificate of completion, and like all palliAGED resources, are practical in nature and grounded in evidence. To learn on how we developed the modules, read our blog.

Our new page outlines the recommendations of the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety, including how these relate to addressing the end-of-life care needs of older Australians.

We are proud to announce that CareSearch/palliAGED is now a platinum partner of the International SPICT Programme. To help you put evidence into practice we have developed interactive and printable versions of the internationally-validated Supportive and Palliative Care Indicators Tool (SPICT). Now available on our website, the SPICT forms will help aged care staff with early identification of older people with deteriorating health due to advanced conditions or a serious illness.

Providing palliative care is an essential part of quality aged care. To support aged care nurses with the basics of palliative care, we will soon release a series of online introductory modules to complement the highly successful evidence-based palliAGED Practice Tip Sheet resources. Release of the modules is planned to coincide with this year's National Palliative Care Week. They will be freely available from the website along with all of the palliAGED resources including our range of forms for aged care.

palliAGED has released new pages to support pharmacists in caring for older Australians. The pages feature information and resources on the important role of pharmacists, managing medications, dosing guides, supporting caregivers, education and professional development, and more.