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This month:

palliAGED Updates

palliAGED/CareSearch happenings

New team members: We are pleased to introduce two new team members who will be working with us to deliver support across the 2020-23 period.



Dr Deborah van Gaans is the Research Associate (Evidence) for the CareSearch Project. She has a background in health informatics and spatial science, and has led a couple of projects which assess the accessibility of health services to the population that they serve.

Kristina Walsh is a Research Associate for CareSearch and palliAGED. Kristina has a registered nurse background with a particular focus on community nursing. Having spent many years caring for people towards the end of life at home and supporting people with chronic and complex health conditions, Kristina will focus on palliAGED and the community aspects of CareSearch.

New offices: the CareSearch/palliAGED team have recently moved into new offices on the Flinders University campus. Our new address is:
Level 3, Room W311, Sturt West
GPO Box 2100
Flinders University
Sturt Road
Bedford Park SA 5042

COVID-19 resources for aged care

To continue supporting the aged care workforce respond to the pandemic, we are regularly updating our COVID-19 hub by adding useful and noteworthy resources. 

Among the new added resources are:

Visit hub

Supporting cultural and linguistic needs  

Approximately 3 out of 10 Australians aged 65 years and over were born overseas. Many of them face substantial barriers in accessing and engaging with the essential support and services, including palliative care.  

To help address this, the CareSearch Project has collaborated with Multicultural Communities Council of South Australia and Palliative Care South Australia to create podcasts that aim to promote understanding of palliative care and awareness of support services. A component of CareSearch's Part of Life campaign, the podcasts are available in Cantonese, Croatian, Greek, Mandarin, Spanish, Ukranian, and English, and cover the following topics: 

  • What is palliative care
  • Pain and symptom management
  • What kind of services are available
  • Financial services
  • Plan early 
  • What matters most 
Read more

Talking and planning for death and dying

Talking about and planning for palliative care, dying, and death enables us to understand the wishes and preferences of the persons we care for, and how we can support their decisions. CareSearch's Part of Life campaign has resources that can help older persons, families, and health professionals. 
 

Read more

Latest Evidence

Rieger K et al. Mindfulness-based arts interventions for cancer care: A systematic review of the effects on wellbeing and fatigue. Psychooncology. 2020 Oct 1. doi: 10.1002/pon.5560.
Living with a cancer diagnosis can impact on the emotional wellbeing of the individual and interest in mindfulness-based arts interventions in various forms to address this has increased. But according to this review, poor study quality means it is too early for practice recommendations.

Kingdun A et al. What is the impact of clinically assisted hydration in the last days of life? A systematic literature review and narrative synthesis. BMJ Support Palliat Care. 2020 Oct 12;bmjspcare-2020-002600. doi: 10.1136/bmjspcare-2020-002600.
The reduction and cessation of oral intake in the period prior to losing consciousness at the end phase of life is a natural process. This review found no evidence that clinically assisted hydration (CAH) improves survival or symptoms. In practice they found strong communication skills and understanding of CAH are critical when discussing this with carers and families.
 
Widberg C et al. Patients' experiences of eHealth in palliative care: An integrative review. BMC Palliat Care. 2020 Oct 14;19(1):158. doi: 10.1186/s12904-020-00667-1.
Alternative methods of communicating such as E-Health are emerging to compliment face to face care. This may assist the patient by providing a consult irrespective of distance and health status and may assist by including relatives who may otherwise not be able to attend. This review looked at the evidence and found high levels of satisfaction with E-Health and the potential for more effective use of resources.  

Read our summaries of the latest evidence

Palliative Perspectives Blogs for Aged Care

Part of Life blog series

CareSearch’s Part of Life Campaign aims to increase community awareness of palliative care and encourage all Australians to learn, care, and plan for death and dying. We are publishing a blog series to highlight how we can all work towards providing quality palliative care to everyone in our community.

  1. Planning for the last part of life – the role of early palliative care: Adjunct Associate Professor at Eastern Health and President of Australian & New Zealand Society of Palliative Medicine (ANZSPM), Leeroy William explains the benefits of early palliative care and highlights why planning for the end of life is important.
  2. Palliative care nursing – looking back to where it started and where it is now: Ms Kate Swetenham, Nursing Director of Palliative Care Projects at SA Department for Health and Wellbeing, discuss the important work of nurses and shares her experience and some pointers. 
  3. Living with dying: Senior Social Worker Jan Obery from the Central Adelaide Palliative Care Service, shares the satisfying aspects of working in palliative care and how social workers and the roles of all of the interdisciplinary team make a significant difference to those living with a life-limiting illness.

Practical Points for Careworkers

Opioid analgesics

Analgesics are medications used to relieve the symptom of pain. Like all medications there can be side effects. Our Practice Tips offers some pointers for careworkers.  

Download now (320kb pdf)

Practical Points for Nurses

Complementary medicines

Health professionals need to ask people in their care whether they are using any complementary or alternative medicine, particularly prescribed or ‘over the counter’ herbal and vitamin supplements, to be aware of the effectiveness, benefits, risks, and safety of treatment choices.

Read more

For GPs

Off-label prescribing

Palliative care represents a unique population and there is a lack of research into giving medicines for new indications or via different routes, making off-label prescribing common.

Read more

Sector News

 First 24 hours – managing COVID-19 in 
a residential aged care facility (update)

The Department of Health has released an updated version of their guidance First 24 hours – managing COVID-19 in a residential aged care facility check list covering the steps providers should take after the identification of a COVID-19 positive case

Palliative Care in General Practice ECHO Network 
- Caring for the dying

Many GPs provide some degree of end-of-life care to patients and their families, and with an ageing population this is set to increase. To help support this, the Sydney North Health Network is launching the Palliative Care in General Practice ECHO Network in February 2021.

The network is a live, online learning series that includes co-management of patient cases in an interactive environment and provides a platform for collaborative learning. For more information, email Brooke Jay at bjay@snhn.org.au

Latest papers from the Royal Commission
into Aged Care Quality and Safety

The Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety has published two new papers: Research Paper 17 – Experimental Estimates of the Prevalence of Elder Abuse in Australian Aged Care Facilities and the ICT Strategy and Architecture Report.

The Commission's final report is scheduled to be released on 26 February 2021. 

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We would love to hear your feedback and suggestions!
Email us at palliaged@flinders.edu.au

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