CareSearch Blog: Palliative Perspectives

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.

Palliative care is increasingly mentioned in mainstream and professional media releases and reports, particularly those related to aged care and cancer, but it is often misrepresented or mentioned only in passing. Dr Katrina Erny-Albrecht from CareSearch explains what palliative care is and why it matters from a researcher perspective.

When older Australians require multiple specialists and teams for their care, how do you keep everyone on the same page? In their latest blog, the ELDAC facilitator team from QUT share strategies to partner with other services to improve the care that older Australians receive at the end of life.

The enormous growth and usage of internet over the last 15 years has resulted in large pools of health and medical information now being available freely on the worldwide web. Priyanka Bhattarai discusses if there is any scope for technology to add value in the palliative care setting.

Did you know that in the next 25 years, the number of Australians who die each year will almost double? Australia needs to be ready to care for older people as they come to the end of their life, and ELDAC (End of Life Directions for Aged Care) has been funded by the Australian Government Department of Health to help meet this need. Find out more about ELDAC and how the project can help by reading the blog by Professor Jennifer Tieman, ELDAC Project Co-Lead, Flinders University and CareSearch Director.