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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.
The rise of ageing and chronic illnesses means that most Australians are living with ill health and significant disability for many years before they die. In our 6th CareSearch@10 anniversary blog post, Kim Devery of Flinders University and End-of-Life Essentials writes why health professionals need trustworthy evidence.
Australia is a dynamic multicultural country. Ours is a nation that is home to one of the world’s oldest culture and millions of people belonging to 270 ancestries. We need quality evidence to be able to address the needs and challenges faced by our older CALD Australians and provide them person and family-centred palliative care. Mary Patetsos discusses providing person- and family-centred palliative care for a culturally diverse Australia and the importance to have resources like CareSearch.
In 2017 Palliative Care Australia undertook a review and update of the reference documents A Guide to Palliative Care Service Development: A population based approach and Palliative Care Service Provision in Australia: A planning guide. Together these key reference documents have provided a framework for the ongoing development of palliative care policy within the health care system for the last fifteen years.
Occupational therapy is a health profession which enables people to participate in everyday life activities to the best of their ability despite their condition, illness progression, activity limitations or participation restrictions. In palliative care this premise does not change, as occupational therapists are skilled in enabling people to adapt to their changing ability levels, and helping people to continue living until they die, just as Dame Cicely Sanders famously quoted. However, the role that occupational therapists play is often misunderstood and under-utilised, resulting in the role being limited to discharge planning, home assessments, and equipment prescription. While these are important parts of the occupational therapy role, palliative care occupational therapists can offer so much more to their clients to enable them to keep living and remained engaged in everyday activities for as long as possible. To do this, occupational therapists follow a process which helps them to assess, intervene and evaluate their treatment plans.