RAC Hub Project

RAC Hub is changing to meet changing needs

The RAC Hub was developed by CareSearch in collaboration with Aged Care stakeholders and launched in 2011 drawing on the work used to develop the APRAC Guidelines. It was one of the first web resources focusing on palliative care in aged care facilities and led the way in connecting the aged care workforce with quality evidence.

Responding to changes in aged care delivery, in 2016 the Department of Health funded CareSearch to provide a new form of palliative care guidance for aged care – guidance for both residential aged care and home care. In 2017, the palliAGED website was launched. It was designed to update and replace the APRAC and COMPAC Guidelines and to be continuously updatable and readily available online. Translating available best evidence into guidance that is both current and practical, palliAGED supports the aged care workforce to make informed care decisions for optimal palliative care.

As part of our current work program we have reviewed the role of the RAC Hub in CareSearch and identified content that could be more sensibly held in palliAGED. We have worked with the palliAGED Advisory Group and the CareSearch Advisory Group to finalise the plan. 

Key considerations when devising the strategy included:

  • Any content duplication between RAC Hub and palliAGED in their current form
  • Current use of the RAC Hub content including site traffic, and referrals by external organisations/websites
  • Suitability of palliAGED and RAC Hub content for different members of the aged care workforce
  • Suitability of content across both sites for people who interact with the aged care sector on an ad hoc basis

First Steps 

  1. Update the Australian Context pages and add new pages to cover the Facility issues found in the RAC Hub
  2. Develop a set of palliAGED Practice Tip Sheets that cover the Care Issues and Communication topics found in the RAC Hub. 

Dr Stephen Richards has drafted new content and pages for the Australian Context section to provide an overview of Australia’s aged care system.  These have been reviewed and are now available in palliAGED Australian Context.

Dr Katrina Erny-Albrecht and Ms Susan Gravier have developed a set of palliAGED Practice Tips sheets for careworkers and nurses in the aged care sector. This involved updating the evidence-based RAC Hub content and hosting two review groups with representatives from aged care. The sheets were released in March 2019 and feedback indicates that the sheets are relevant to the sector and easy to use. With this release,  a set of pages in the RAC Hub were closed and users redirected to palliAGED.

palliAGED Practice Tip Sheets update. Practice Tip Sheets on additional topics identified by the review group and as part of the ongoing RAC Hub review are being added and this expanded collection is set for release in September 2019.

Finalising the Changes

  1. RAC Hub content on workforce and education has been transferred to the palliAGED Education and Training section. This complements the CareSearch Education section by focusing on opportunities for the aged care sector including and related to palliative care.
  2. Content from the For Residents and Families section is now found in the For the Community section in palliAGED.
  3. The Literature and Resources information has been added to the palliAGED Finding Evidence Section.

Now that Steps 3 to 5 have occurred the consolidation of aged care resources previously found in the RAC Hub into palliAGED and new resources has been completed. The RAC Hub pages have now been closed and visitors are automatically redirected to to the appropriate palliAGED page or resource.

The planned 2020 closure of the Palliative Approach (PA) Toolkit for residential aged care which is currently hosted by CareSearch is also relevant to this project and you can read more about this on palliAGED.

palliAGED Practice Tip Sheets

 

Page last updated 26 February 2020