Palliative Care in Aged Care

Course Overview

All patients with a life-limiting illness, their families and carers will require support and care from nurses and other health professionals who understand and are skilled in the palliative approach to care.

Topics

• Advance care planning,
• Advance care directives,
• When and how to start the conversation,
• The palliative approach,
• Recognising the dying process,
• Using an end of life care plan.

Need

It is imperative that aged care staff see palliative care as a core skill to ensure residents experience a peaceful and dignified death. All patients with a life-limiting illness, their families and carers will require support and care from health professionals who understand and are skilled in the palliative approach to care.

Improvements in palliative care will become more challenging as the population ages and the palliative care workforce ages with it. There will not be enough specialist palliative care services to meet the need, and it is essential that primary care is primed to take an increasing share of the palliative care burden.

Purpose

The purpose of this Course is to enable important conversations about advance care planning and palliative care to take place between care recipients, family members and health professionals, in order to enhance the provision of quality palliative care and the palliative approach.

Learning Outcomes

• Apply the concept of advance care planning (ACP) to clinical situations to effectively recognise when it is appropriate to commence an ACP conversation.
• Implement a palliative approach to care to improve the quality of life.
• Identify when a care recipient is in the final stages of life to best ensure the person experiences a peaceful and dignified death.

Target Audience

All staff working in the aged care sector, both in the community and in residential aged care facilities. It is suitable as an introduction to the topic for nurses and to ensure that personal care staff have an awareness of its importance.

Disclosure

No conflict of interest exists for anyone in the position to control content for this activity. Wherever possible, generic or non-proprietary names of medications or products have been used.

Educator

Karen Conte

Karen Conte is an endorsed palliative care Nurse Practitioner with over 30 years’ experience in the field of palliative care. She holds a Masters in Palliative Care from Flinders University. Her passion for quality palliative care within the aged care sector and the importance of having early advance care planning conversations was further enhanced by her work as the National Project Manager for Decision Assist. Karen now owns her own business (Home Instead Senior Care) providing specialist support to older adults in their own home that enables them to remain independent and stay at home. See Educator Profile