The Australian Palliative Care in Aged Care Project (APRAC) was a federally funded project designed to look at three issues:

• Development of national guidelines for palliative care in Residential Aged Care Facilities (RACFs)
• Development of a national education and training program for RACF workers
• Options for communication and implementation of guidelines and the education and training program.

The guidelines were developed by a project team comprising investigators with expertise in aged care, palliative care and education. Individuals with special expertise in guideline development, dementia, cultural issues and volunteers were also involved. The guidelines were the result of collaboration between the project team, the aged and palliative care sectors and the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing.

The guidelines were launched in July 2004 and were subsequently endorsed by the National Health and Medical Research Council in 2005. A subsequent project looked at the implementation of the guidelines.

The following resources were produced in these projects:

• Navigational Tool for the Guidelines for a Palliative Approach in Residential Aged Care Commonwealth of Australia, 2004.
  This document provides a summary of, and ready reference to, the Guidelines for a Palliative Approach in Residential Aged Care to assist staff, management and educators.
• Guidelines for a Palliative Approach in Residential Aged Care Commonwealth of Australia, 2006
  Evidence based guidelines to help practitioners in applying a palliative approach in a residential aged care facility.
• Training Modules for a Palliative Approach in Residential Aged Care Commonwealth of Australia, 2004 This document assists in the implementation of a palliative approach by providing staff and management with an understanding of the benefits.
• Training resources for the Guidelines for a Palliative Approach in Residential Aged Care  Palliative Care Australia developed a series of Training Resources based on The Guidelines for a Palliative Approach in Residential Aged Care (the Guidelines) as part of a the implementation program.

This page was created on 22 May 2008