Research and evidence can be used:
- to guide clinical practice
- to develop national and local health policy
- to identify effective methods of service delivery.
Palliative care is a relatively young discipline, still building its research capacity and infrastructure. It is developing an evidence base that will directly improve practice and policy.
Palliative Care Australia (PCA) Research Review
PCA carried out a research scoping study in 1999. They identified various strengths with regard to palliative care research in Australia including strong clinical programs and a base of academics and clinicians who could contribute to research work. The report also pointed out various issues relating to the development of palliative care research. These included:
- Historical and social barriers to do with researching death and dying
- Lack of research programs, infrastructure and training programs
- Geographic issues that could affect collaboration
- Funding difficulties
- Heavy clinical load for staff
- Lack of a culture that encouraged and valued research
- Methodological and ethical issues in undertaking palliative research.
National Palliative Care Program
The Australian Health Ministers' Advisory Council endorsed the National Palliative Care Strategy in October 2000. Within the framework of The Strategy, a
National Palliative Care Program was developed. One of four program areas relates to research and quality improvement for palliative care services, which included a joint initiative with the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) called the
Palliative Care Research Program.
This page was created on 25 March 2008 and is due for review in March 2010
Last updated 18 September 2008