I am a GP or Nurse Practitioner- About You - ELDAC
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GPs and NPs in Aged Care

General Practitioners (GPs) are an important player in the aged care sector ensuring older people receive high-quality care. They are critical to identifying and addressing palliative care needs, providing continuity and coordination, and providing place-based and family-oriented care.

Nurse practitioners (NPs) are also highly skilled health care professionals who have a critical role, particularly in primary care, in ensuring timely access to palliative care.

  • 1.

    I am new to palliative care

    The following resources offer useful information, materials and guidance about palliative care and advance care planning.

    • The ELDAC Care Model helps you think about the care needs of someone who may be declining and approaching the end of life.
    • Advance Care Planning Australia provides information on the role and processes around advance care planning as well as links to State and Territory legislation.
    • The CareSearch GP Hub provides a suite of palliative care resources for GPs.
  • 2.

    Practising in aged care

    Improving primary health care for all Australians, especially older people, has been an important goal in health and aged care reforms.

    The Department of Health, Disability and Ageing has introduced several programs that can help GPs provide high-quality and sustainable care in aged care settings. These initiatives aim to ensure that older Australians receive the support they need to maintain their health and wellbeing.

  • 3.

    Developing my skills

    As part of continuing professional development, it is important to identify any learning gaps you have in providing quality care. The following resources can help you build knowledge, skills and confidence in providing palliative care for older people.

    Clinical skills and practice

    End of life law

    • The ELDAC End of Life Law Toolkit contains useful resources on common issues that arise in aged care related to advance care planning, voluntary assisted dying, substitute decision-making and managing disputes.
    • For further training, the End of Life Law for Clinicians (ELLC) courses are available for medical practitioners, medical students, and nurses to complete on end of life law.

    See other Australian Government-funded palliative care education and training focusing on palliative care.

  • 4.

    Tools and resources to support my practice

    • The Advance Project® offers training for GPs and GP nurses on palliative care and end-of-life care and how resources can be implemented within your general practice service.
    • caring@home provides resources and online training modules for health care professionals to teach families and carers how to manage symptoms at the end of life.
    • CareSearch provides tools and checklists for GPs to assist in providing palliative care.
    • palliAGED has compiled forms for your practice that can be used to support care provision for older patients.