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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.
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.
Symptom management is a large component of maintaining a person’s comfort at the end of life, along with supporting spiritual, emotional and cultural wellbeing of the person and their loved ones. Karen Gregory from Resthaven Inc. discusses how routine comfort measures often thought about at this time are around pain relief, comfortable positioning, skin care, urinary and bowel care, mouth and eye care. She refers to the palliAGED Practice Tip Sheets and gives tips on simple techniques to maintain comfort of the eyes and mouth which can make a high impact on the quality of life during the last days of life.