Project Co-Leads Ms Deb Rawlings and Associate Professor Kim Devery
End-of-Life Essentials is once again the proud recipient of an Australian Department of Health grant, securing funding for the project until 30 June 2023.
Outcomes for the next three years include:
- Development of four new online modules with targeted learning in:
- Patient coordination – Health, Aged and Disability sectors
- End-of-life care for Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) and LGBTI groups, and those living with mental illness
- Clinical change management, leadership, and governance
- Meeting the ACSQHC/NSQHC Standards 2nd edition
- A new Education Hub will extend and evaluate the current Toolkit to facilitate practice change
A national qualitative study has suggested that the practical nature of End-of-Life Essentials’ modules has contributed to improved communication skills for health professionals, including increased confidence in their the ability to have end-of-life conversations.
The study included interviews with registered and enrolled nurses, doctors and allied health professionals and found improvement in:
- Ability to initiate conversations about end of life
- Skills to explore patient and family’s end-of-life expectations and acknowledge grief
- Development of tactful forthrightness in communication
- Improved active listening skills including more effective use of silence and validation of concerns
- Acquisition of a suite of practical phrases
- Confidence in end-of-life conversations and
- Empathy skills - i.e. ability to be respectfully present and available
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