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The views and opinions expressed in our blog series are those of the authors and are not necessarily supported by CareSearch, Flinders University and/or the Australian Government Department of Health.
Paediatric palliative care aims to enhance the quality of life of the child or your person who has a life limiting illness and support his/her family. In the first of our blog series on paediatric palliative care, Sarah Baggio from the Quality of Care Collaborative Australia project discusses the important role of Allied Health Professionals in supporting children in palliative care.
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.
It is uncertain how each of us will die and how we will experience the declining capacity to manage everyday activities as we approach death. Dr Deidre Morgan from Flinders University discusses her recent study evaluating the trajectories of functional decline of Australian patients receiving specialist palliative care and how the findings can provide guidance about resource allocation.
Rapport is an essential ingredient of quality palliative care. What is important to the person as a human being, not as a “sufferer of terminal illness”, will shape the choices that they make at the end of life. In recognition of World Social Work Day ‘Promoting the Importance of Human Relationships’, Jan Obery, social worker from Central Adelaide Palliative Care Service outlines the important work of social workers who accompany people at end of life by identifying and addressing the issues which cause the person the most grief and difficulty adapting to their changed circumstance.
Speech pathologists will often work with patients undergoing palliative care and treatment, despite the perception that it may not be their role. Wendy Pearse, Principal Project Officer for End of Life Care at Sunshine Coast Hospital and Health Service discusses challenging those perceptions and the importance of evidence-based practice in supporting speech pathologists in providing care for those patients.