Dying in residential aged care: Implementing an evidence-based model of palliative care

In Australia 7% of persons aged 65 and over live in a residential aged care facility (RACF). As the majority of people who live in RACFs will die in this selling, nursing and care staff in conjunction with General Practitioners and specialist palliative care services have assumed responsibility for providing palliative care. A range of local, state and national responses have occurred to assist these professionals to provide palliative care. This has included the development of a range of resources including the following:
 
  • Guidelines for a Palliative Approach in RACF
  • Training modules for a Palliative Approach in RACFs
  • General Practitioner training modules - Engaging GPs' support for the
     implementation of Guidelines for a Palliative Approach
  • The Australian Pain Society's Guidelines for Residential Aged Care
  • The Brisbane South Palliative Care Collaborative End of Life Care Pathway.

This presentation discusses how a current project funded by the Department of Health and Ageing under the Encouraging Best Practice in Residential Aged Care (EBPRAC) aims to synthesise and translate these resources and create a transferable and evidence based generic model for providing palliative care.