CareSearch Blog: Palliative Perspectives

Little is known about the effects COVID-19 pandemic has on people’s mental health or what support is needed when they know someone who has died. Professor of Palliative Care, Liz Lobb, discusses a new research study looking at the experiences of people bereaved during the pandemic.

Providing palliative and end-of-life care became more complex with the COVID-19 pandemic. Dr David Holden shares insights from a survey exploring the experiences of South Australian consumers, carers, and clinicians receiving and delivering palliative care during this time.

COVID-19 has brought about many challenges to providing education for healthcare professionals. Hence, education providers have had to come up with innovative ways to deliver workshops. In this blog Steph Dickinson and Sharon Wetzig from the Palliative Care Education and Training Collaborative, Cancer and Palliative Care Outcomes Centre at QUT discusses how the Program of Experience in the Palliative Approach (PEPA) adapted to online formats of education and discusses the response to running workshops virtually.

As COVID-19 continues to disrupt our health and aged care services, there is a strong case for prioritising advance care planning (ACP) as part of the national response. Linda Nolte from Advance Care Planning Australia discusses how ACP could be better used to manage a surge in healthcare demand during the pandemic, with recommendations on how this might be achieved.

Dying to Know Day (August 8th) is an annual campaign that encourages community members and organisations to host events that encourage critical discussion and planning around death, dying, and grief. Holly Rankin-Smith, Communication Director at The Groundswell Project, discusses their campaign and the importance of having these critical conversations particularly during this COVID-19 pandemic.