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Palliative care is integrated into a client’s overall care, as well as the care their family receives. The following are modified from the ‘Principles for Palliative and End of Life Care in Residential Aged Care’5:
1. Consumers' physical and mental needs at the end of life are assessed and recognised 2. Consumers, families and carers are involved in end of life planning and decision-making 3. Consumers receive equitable and timely access to appropriate end of life care within aged care facilities
4. End of life care is holistic, integrated and delivered by appropriately trained and skilled staff 5. The end of life care needs of consumers with dementia or cognitive impairment are understood and met within residential aged care 6. Consumers, families and carers are treated with dignity and respect 7. Consumers have their spiritual, cultural and psychosocial needs respected and fulfilled 8. Families, carers, staff and residents are supported in bereavement5
After assessing a client’s palliative care needs:
Next Actions:
The client’s care plan should be updated to reflect their palliative care needs. The four domains identified in the Assess Palliative Care Needs section of the toolkit are also used in this section to highlight how to meet the palliative care needs of the client and their family.
The Patient Management section on CareSearch provides a comprehensive overview of symptoms that are included in the Symptom Assessment Scale discussed in the toolkit section Assess Palliative Care Needs. These links provide a range of information including management of:
Leading Aged Care Services (LASA) has a short video and accompanying factsheet on pain management in residential aged care and home care settings.
The Palliative Care Bridge has videos on the following symptoms:
The Palliative Care Needs Assessment Guidance has a summary poster (184kb pdf) on all four domains including in relation to the family and social functioning. There are suggestions on the approach to take; example prompts to enable discussion on social and occupational wellbeing; identification of concerns; and actions to take.
The Palliative Care Needs Assessment Guidance has a summary poster (184kb pdf) on all four domains including suggestions on identifying psychological and emotion issues clients may have. Concerns may include:
Knowing and understanding the client’s cultural beliefs will help careworkers be more sensitive to the client’s and family’s needs and traditions. Careworkers will be better able to show respect, which helps provide good end-of-life care. A careworker factsheet (122kb pdf) is available from The Residential Aged Care Palliative Approach Toolkit (PA Toolkit).
Palliative Care Bridge has a video - The place of spiritual care at the end of life.
Leading Aged Care Services (LASA) has a short video and accompanying factsheet called ‘Authentic Diversity’ in residential aged care and home care settings. This resource is about providing a supportive environment which honours the unique preferences, culture, needs and beliefs of the individual client, their families, carers and /or significant others.
The Guidelines for a Palliative Approach for Aged Care in the Community Setting (COMPAC) created a resource called 'How a palliative approach can help older people being cared for at home' (140kb pdf). This booklet was developed for older people and their families.
Palliative Care Australia has a comprehensive website devoted to palliative care resources. Some of these include:
The PCA website has a section called ‘Understanding Palliative Care’ that includes information on:
The PCA website has a ‘Support and Services’ section that offers information on:
The Department of Health has a website devoted to Palliative Care and End of Life Care. There is a short video called “Talking about Palliative Care” featuring people from diverse cultures chatting about end of life care.
CareSearch has also a webpage about clients wanting to talk with someone – in terms of finding the right person, professional help or support group. There is a webpage on communication at the end of life that has resources to assist in communicating with families, especially at such as emotional time.
The Living with Illness section on CareSearch was designed for clients and their families to help with the various concerns that may arise when coming to terms with a life limiting illness. Topics covered include:
The How to Care section on CareSearch provides a range of helpful information for caregivers in carrying out their role and also to tips on taking care of themselves as well. These links provide a range of information including:
Carer Needs
It is also important for carers to identify their own needs and the level of concern they cause. CareSearch has information addressing carers’ needs including information on how to look after yourself, which includes tips and links to websites and factsheets.
Needs Assessment Tool for Carers (NAT-CC - Caring for you) (149kb pdf) University of Queensland The NAT-CC is a self-reported tool for carers supporting someone with a chronic illness. The tool identifies the care needs of someone living with a chronic condition, and the level of concern this causes the carer. This provides prompts for the carer and/or the health professional to discuss these issues.
The PalliAGED website has collated a comprehensive list of resources for the family on palliative care and end of life needs including topics on:
Page updated 31 January 2019