Blog

Nurses and carers working in residential aged care are under pressure to provide care for people with very complex needs in an environment that often lacks senior staff. Palliative Care Needs Rounds (PCNRs) offer education and mentoring to improve access to specialised palliative care in residential aged care facilities. They also aim to enhance staff skills and confidence in managing pain and end-of-life symptoms. In her blog, Nikki Johnston discusses the benefits of PCNRs for both staff and residents.

Virtual reality (VR) has emerged as a promising non-pharmacological therapy in palliative care, offering potential benefits for symptom management and overall well-being. In this blog, a group of researchers explore the potential of personalised VR therapy to improve emotional and physical symptoms in palliative care patients.

In recognition of Advance Care Planning week (18-24 March), our team asked Craig Sinclair and Rebecca Walton, researchers currently looking at the effectiveness of advance care planning, to tell us about this work and its implications for aged care. 

Advance care planning ensures the preferences of aged care recipients for future care are known and respected by those providing this care. In this blog, Dr Catherine Joyce and Lesley Habel discuss the importance of advance care planning and offer practical advice on how to start and conduct these conversations with older people and their families.  

A recent Australian study explored the experiences of 56 residential aged care staff in providing end-of-life care to people with advanced dementia. Madeleine Juhrmann, Jon San Martin and Josephine Clayton of HammondCare explain what this research discovered and suggests some implications for aged care.