General Tools and Resources - Allied Health
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General tools and resources

Allied Health Professionals (AHPs) play a critical role in providing end-of-life care, supporting patients and their families with a range of physical, emotional, and spiritual needs. General resources for the provision of best care at end of life are available to support practice, with some being freely available and intended to support your best practice in the delivery of palliative care in aged care. In addition, a number of other practice-based resources will be available via professional body member sites.

This page has some general resources that could extend your learning and practice in the provision of palliative care to older adults.

National
Centre for Cultural Diversity in Ageing
Provides service providers with practice guides, training, and a number of useful multilingual resources including communication cards, interpreter cards and aged care signage to assist residents navigate their way around their home or service.
Indigenous Program of Experience in the Palliative Approach (IPEPA)
Cultural considerations: providing end-of-life care for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
 
Victoria

Barwon Health

Barwon Health is a Regional health service and education provider in Victoria who offer the following resources:

  • Palliative Care Toolkit containing fact sheets on self care, managing symptoms, financial issues, dealing with worries, spirituality, young carers, advice for carers and LGBTIQA+
  • Aged care sites, a health library with search function and short courses available (email for details).

Health Translations

Victoria's end of life and palliative care framework - consumer summary

Queensland

Metro South Health

The Residential Aged Care End of Life Pathway (RAC EoLCP) is a care plan that guides the provision of good quality end of life (terminal) care in residential aged care. It incorporates evidence and consensus-based best practice clinical management and care coordination for dying residents in residential aged care facilities.

Podcast

Cancer Council NSW

End of Life Care at Home 

PaSCE

The WA Cancer Council's Palliative and Supportive Care Education (PaSCE) program delivers palliative and supportive care education for all health professional, allied health and volunteers across the state working with patients with a life limiting illness. Education programs include:

  • Professional development
  • Communication skills
  • PEPA
  • Residential aged care excellent in Palliative Care Communicate (RACEPC)
  • Palliative care scholarships

End-of-Life and Palliative Care Education and Training Framework

A reference tool by the Government of Western Australia Department of Health to identify the knowledge and skills required by all health professionals and staff who care for people with end-of-life and palliative care needs.

The Program of Experience in the Palliative Approach (PEPA)

PEPA forms part of the Palliative Care Education and Training Collaborative (the Collaborative). As a national palliative care project, the Collaborative takes a strategic approach to education and training the healthcare workforce. It includes a community of practice portal, and delivers programs for priority healthcare provider groups across primary, secondary and tertiary settings.

  • Professional development
  • Communication skills
  • PEPA
  • Residential aged care excellent in Palliative Care Communicate (RACEPC)
  • Palliative care scholarships

Palliative Care Australia (PCA)

Palliative Care Australia is the national peak body for palliative care, and has a dedicated series of pages for allied health professionals

Agency for Clinical Innovation

The NSW Agency for Clinical Innovation has collated commissioned education videos on palliative care topics, by experts in their fields.

caring@home

The caring@home project Palliative Care Clinic Box offers resources for health professionals supporting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander individuals and their families. This includes tip sheets around managing pain, symptoms, stress and recognising end of life and some step-by-step guides.

End-of-Life Essentials

End-of-Life Essentials offers free education modules and practice resources for health professionals to improve the quality and safety of end of life care in hospitals. Topics include:

The project have also developed My Toolkits, which include checklists and resources with links to videos, blogs, podcases and further reading.

There are many palliative care resources for individuals and their families, some are more general resources while others provide discipline specific information. Providing people with quality evidence-based information is important to help manage issues they may have and can be used to stimulate discussion of issues that may arise and to create health care plans.

The ELDAC website has several resources that you can use to support individuals and their families. The resources menu includes a search function to locate services in aged care and palliative care, as well as a number of downloads on key topics to end of life.

CareSearch also has a dedicated page that links out to information that can be shared with patients and families on topics such as:

  • About palliative care
  • Advance care planning
  • Carers
  • Bereavement
  • Symptoms and pain management
  • Medicines
  • Funerals

In addition to these more general information pamphlets, some more specific resources can be found below.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People

Victorian Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation Inc
Understanding the palliative care journey. A guide for individuals, carer communities and families.
caring@home
The caring@home project Palliative Care Clinic Box offers resources for health professionals supporting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander individuals and their families. This includes tip sheets around managing pain, symptoms, stress and recognising end of life and some step-by-step guides.

Non English-speaking clients

Palliative Care Australia

Palliative Care Australia has a basic fact sheet providing an overview of what palliative care can offer in 21 different languages.

CareSearch

Caresearch also has several videos in Arabic, Cantonese, Greek, Italian and Mandarin on the importance of making informed choices at the end of life, bereavement and grief and living with life limiting illness and the importance of carers and respite.

Centre for Cultural Diversity in Ageing

A video on How to ask for what you need, from aged care services in a range of languages.

Residential Aged Care Facilities (RACF)

Royal College of Occupational Therapists

This UK based organisation have collated a number of general resources for older adults in residential aged care.

Living Well in Care Homes has fact sheets on:

  • Moving into a care home
  • Treating you as an individual
  • Making safe but informed choices
  • Keeping active

Palliative Care Australia

Palliative Care Australia video - Suiting the Needs:A Palliative Approach in Residential Aged Care.

Aged Care at home

The Better Health Channel

The Better Health Channel (Victoria) has developed fact sheets for families on the delivery of end of life care to individuals in their own home. The information has been adapted from the Department of Health Victoria – end of Life Care services.

Profession Specific Resources

For profession specific resources, select your profession from the Allied Health Team. 

Profession Specific Evidence

You can find evidence and guidelines in the Guidance and Research section. 

 

Page updated 20 October 2023