palliAGED updates

CareSearch/palliAGED is pleased to announce that we have been included in project funding announced by the Department of Health and Aged Care for the 2023-26 period. With $53 million allocated to 14 National Palliative Care Projects and an addition $15.9 million to the End of Life Directions for Aged Care (ELDAC) initiative the government has confirmed its commitment to ensuring quality end of life experiences in Australia. See a list of all Palliative Care Projects and End of Life Directions for Aged Care Funding (84kb pdf).

Are you looking for workplace training for careworkers that is relevant and relatable? To help with this palliAGED has released a series of new resources – Aged care journeys in palliative care.

Providing a first step into palliative care training, these resources combine palliAGED Practice Tip Sheets and common journeys in aged care mapped as part of a project commissioned by Gold Coast PHN. For Educators resources are also provided to assist with team discussions based on the journeys. Visit today and introduce your team to Peter, Mary, Betty, and Keng and how Careworkers can make a difference.

Grief and bereavement can have significant impacts on individuals and on communities. While we often think of loss in terms of death, for many people and their families it starts much earlier. Looking after people who are coming towards the end of their life also impacts the workforce providing care.

Our latest In-Focus looks at grief and loss associated with deterioration and death for people using aged care services. To help you plan ways to support those affected by grief and bereavement in aged care we also highlight available resources and supports.

Online teaching resources provide a flexible way for aged care staff to learn. palliAGED makes it easy for you to access a range of courses and now there are even more! Visit the Training and Education section to find your next learning experience.

Newly added:
 

Technology is seen as having a potentially transformative effect on aged care. New technologies can connect care and service providers, offer new ways of providing direct care and of doing business.

Case conferences make sure everyone is on the same page about care needs and care plans. Having a structure and document templates to record the decisions makes communicating and sharing easier. palliAGED has always had a set of freely available Case Conference forms. If you sometimes have longer case notes and need to print these for your files, the following forms are now available in Word for this application:

• Staff Communication Form (32kb docx)
• Case Conference Summary - residential care (50kb docx)
• Case Conference Summary - home care (50kb docx)

Workforce capability: In the latest Australian Ageing Agenda print magazine, we discuss support for nurses responding to expectations for care at the end-of-life as outlined in the new draft standards for aged care. Visit Australian Ageing Agenda to read more.

Using complaints to improve aged care: In the latest Aged Care Insite we discuss the importance of viewing complaints as an opportunity to improve service delivery and examine some of the support available to help with this.

The new palliAGED resource packs include a range of forms and checklists useful as part of practice and for training together with the palliAGED Practice Tips and Introductory modules. There are separate packs for home care and residential aged care. Both packs can now be downloaded from palliAGED. Printed packs can be ordered using the palliAGED order form.

To explore the new resources, go to the Cognitive Impairment and Dementia pages in the palliAGED Evidence Centre and Practice Centre.

Palliative care of older people includes assessing and responding to cognitive issues such as confusion, delirium, dementia and/or communication difficulties. Dementia is likely the better-known. Cognitive Impairment and Dementia is the latest topic in the palliAGED Evidence Centre to be substantially updated and expanded this year.

Extensively researched, these pages draw from the latest evidence and evidence synthesis to support the aged care workforce. The companion Practice Centre pages offer assessment, screening tools, information for families and carers, training modules and other resources to improve your practice and your organisation’s practice.

Almost two thirds of adults over 80 years of age have three or more chronic diseases. Comorbidity and multimorbidity are common terms to describe this but have you ever wondered what the difference is between them? This topic in palliAGED’s Evidence Centre has now been substantially updated and expanded to explain this and the impact of multiple chronic conditions on care at the end of life. It provides wide-ranging and extensively researched evidence summaries to guide aged care practice in this area. The Practice Centre pages also provide practical resources and tools that staff can use to support older people in their care.