palliAGED updates

The CareSearch Project is undertaking a major re-structure of its current website to offer a rich set of integrated resources for the palliative care community that can be easily navigated.

The portal will include a major aged care centre which will feature palliAGED and other projects offering practical resources and information. You can participate in the building of the new portal by sharing your insights.

We are pleased to introduce two new team members who will be working with us to deliver support across the 2020-23 period.

Dr Deborah van Gaans is the Research Associate (Evidence) for the CareSearch Project. She has a background in health informatics and spatial science, and has led a couple of projects which assess the accessibility of health services to the population that they serve.

Kristina Walsh is a Research Associate for CareSearch and palliAGED. Kristina has a registered nurse background with a particular focus on community nursing. Having spent many years caring for people towards the end of life at home and supporting people with chronic and complex health conditions, Kristina will focus on palliAGED and the community aspects of CareSearch.

Supporting the aged care workforce to deliver quality home care for older Australians, particularly those who are needing palliative care, is crucial. We have free resources that can help:

• Practice Tip Sheets for careworkers
• Practice Tip Sheets for nurses
• Case conference forms for home care
• Palliative Care Support for Patients, Carers, and Families booklet from CareSearch

Place your order via this form.

CareSearch has launched the national Part of Life campaign to encourage community awareness of palliative care and highlight a host of free resources and information for all Australians, including those needing and providing aged care.

The campaign aims to support community members and health professionals to learn, care, and plan for palliative care, dying, and death. It highlights the six guiding principles of the National Palliative Care Strategy, which have been identified as fundamental to ensure that all people experience the palliative care they need and ideals that we all have to work towards.

palliAGED has developed a search filter to support easy and rapid access to the latest peer-reviewed information on issues in aged care. All information comes from PubMed, the large biomedical database made available by the United States National Library of Medicine.

To help the aged care workforce who are among our front line responders to COVID-19, in addition to our COVID-19 section in palliAGED, we have created a new page where we highlight noteworthy resources.

Psychosocial Care sits at the core of palliative care and connects to many of the 38 topics already available on the palliAGED website. Psychosocial care denotes the psychological, spiritual and social aspects of a person’s life, their emotions, thoughts, attitudes, motivation and behaviour, and the way in which a person relates to and interacts with their world. In practice, awareness of and attendance to psychosocial support should be a part of all aspects of palliative care. You can also read the blog by Susan Gravier and Robyn Dutschke on this release.

For more than ten years, the Palliative Approach (PA) Toolkit has supported residential aged care facilities to implement a comprehensive, evidence-based, person-centred, and sustainable approach to palliative care. Since its release in 2009, there have been many changes to the evidence base and palliAGED and End of Life Directions for Aged Care (ELDAC) now support the aged care sector. The PA Toolkit was retired on 30 June 2020 after the completion of a content transition plan.

palliAGED has received new funding from the Australian Government Department of Health. This funding will ensure that the sector continues to have current and readily accessible evidence to guide palliative care practice in aged care.

It will also enable palliAGED to promote high quality care at the end of life to older Australians in line with the Aged Care Quality Standards; to identify and use evidence to address end of life issues raised in the report of the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety; and to continue the consolidation and dissemination of evidence and practice resources to support high quality palliative care in aged care.

According to palliAGED Director Professor Jennifer Tieman, 'we have a growing older population who are living longer and dying older with higher care needs. Aged care services and health professionals need evidence, resources, and approaches to support quality care and quality of life for older people until they die - whether at home, in the community, or in a residential aged care facility.'

'Since its establishment in 2017, palliAGED has been working to support our aged care workforce and help improve the quality of care at the end of life provided to older Australians. The new funding until 30 June 2023 will allow us to continue this important work,' stated Professor Tieman.

This year, palliAGED has also celebrated its 3rd year anniversary. Among its key accomplishments are:

• 21 new topics added to the Evidence Centre and Practice Centre pages
• All 38 topics updated with new and emerging evidence
• Symptoms and Medicines section for terminal care fully revised and updated
• 14 forms developed to support practice including case conferences and self-care
• Development of the palliAGED Practice Tip Sheets as part of activity to consolidate resources for aged care into a single site
• Expansion of the For Community section to support people with palliative care needs and their families
• Expansion of the Australian Context section including coverage of the Royal Commission into Aged Care and improved access to key documents
• New Training and Education section
• COVID-19 resources centre. 

This summary outlines the other key accomplishments and plans for the next three years. (757kb pdf)

eHealth or digital health can help GPs and aged care services to deliver high quality care. To support them in setting up and using technologies efficiently, palliAGED has developed a new section on eHealth. The new section lists the latest evidence on eHealth, guidance documents, tools, links, and other information to guide GPs and aged care staff involved in planning and providing care of older persons.