Health professionals are always seeking the latest evidence in order to provide the best possible care to their patients. However, integrating the latest evidence into practice can seem daunting. Dr David Healey, a General Practitioner, provides examples how he integrates evidence into his practice and the importance of doing so. 

Advance care planning (ACP) can improve end of life care in line with a person's wishes. But is it a Western concept that can be applied to other countries? Yumi Naito a registered nurse and masters student at Flinders University discusses how ACP is enabling decision making at the end of life in Japan.

Paramedics’ scope of practice has traditionally been limited to providing life-sustaining interventions for acute emergencies. But they also have the unique potential to support and fulfil the wishes of dying patients who prefer to spend their end of life at home. In this blog, Madeleine Juhrmann of HammondCare discusses how the role of paramedics in palliative care can be broadened and provides some example initiatives. 

Health professionals working in hospitals are faced with several barriers when implementing evidence based practice in end-of-life care, including the amount of evidence to read and the lack of time to appraise it. To help overcome these barriers, Deb Rawlings and Jane Durbridge from the End-of-Life Essentials project discuss how a free practice change toolkit can assist in bringing about positive changes at the point of care.

CarerHelp, a new resource to support unpaid carers, was launched at Parliament House on Thursday, 17th October during National Carers Week 2019.

Developed as part of the Australian Family Carer Toolkit Project, this new resource helps to prepare unpaid carers to care for a partner, parent, child or friend at the end of life.

'Caring for a relative or a friend who is dying can be a rewarding yet challenging experience. Based on a significant volume of evidence, we know that carers need information about how to recognise when death may be on the horizon, what to expect when someone is imminently dying, and to know where to get help and support. Importantly, carers who are more informed and better prepared for their role are less distressed, feel more competent, and can cope better during bereavement. CarerHelp is designed to focus on these areas, in order to improve family carer wellbeing,' said Project Lead Professor Peter Hudson, an international expert on family caregiving in palliative care and Director of the Centre for Palliative Care in Victoria.

The Australian Family Carer Toolkit Project is a collaboration of the Centre for Palliative Care of St Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne and The University of Melbourne; CareSearch of Flinders University, Carers Australia and The University of Technology Sydney. Professor Hudson acknowledged the invaluable assistance of the national expertise within the project’s Reference Group and the generous sharing of carers’ personal experiences. He stated, “Carers, health professionals, and experts have collaborated to develop the content of this innovative resource, which has been brought to life by the CareSearch Project team from Flinders University.” CarerHelp is funded by the Australian Government Department of Health.