To support the community in dealing with the Coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic, CareSearch has developed pages for Patients and Carers, and for Health Professionals to connect them with available information. While the implications of this rapidly changing situation are still emerging it is important that people have access to trustworthy sources of information.

Fundamental care is central to caring for a dying patient. Professor Alison Kitson, Vice-President and Executive Dean of the College of Nursing and Health Sciences at Flinders University, discusses the need to develop better ways of delivering fundamental care for patients in palliative care, and the aims of the Fundamentals of Care Research Program at the Caring Futures Institute.

As the largest group of health care professionals in Australia, nurses have a major role in supporting the demand for palliative care across all age groups including the increasing number of older Australians approaching the end of life with chronic conditions.

Making fundamental care a reality for everyone – from birth through to palliative and end-of-life care – requires a concerted effort. Drs Rebecca Feo and Tiffany Conroy of the Caring Futures Institute at the College of Nursing and Health Sciences, Flinders University discuss the importance of providing quality fundamental care, and the  role of the International Learning Collaborative.

As part of our update of the CareSearch Clinical Evidence section pages on patient management we have released updated evidence pages for Advanced Dementia and Heart Failure.