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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.
With the deluge of information about preparing for COVID-19, how many of us have taken the time to stop, think and talk about what we would want to happen if we or someone close to us became seriously ill? In this blog, CareSearch Director Professor Jennifer Tieman discusses the ongoing need for advance care planning to enable us to prepare for emergencies.
Eleven Primary Health Networks (PHNs) across Australia are implementing the Greater Choice for At Home Palliative Care (GCfAHPC) measure. In the second blog in our series on GCfAHPC, Anne Harley, Integrated Health Coordinator at South Western Sydney PHN discusses their 'Peace of Mind' project and activities to raise community awareness about dementia, advance care planning and palliative care.
Advance care planning (ACP) can improve end of life care in line with a person's wishes. But is it a Western concept that can be applied to other countries? Yumi Naito a registered nurse and masters student at Flinders University discusses how ACP is enabling decision making at the end of life in Japan.
The ELDAC Home Care Toolkit is available online through the ELDAC website (www.eldac.com.au) and connects aged care staff working in home and community care with tools and resources to deliver quality palliative care and advance care planning. The toolkit provides information and guidance to support clients and their families. In this blog Professor Deborah Parker and Dr Holly Mack from the University of Technology (UTS) explain how the toolkit assists in clinical care, education and learning and organisational support.
Advance care planning is especially important as it assists health professionals to understand what choices and decisions have been made, how someone would like to be cared for, and the direction of treatment plans. However not all residential aged care facilities implement advance care planning policies. Nurse Practitioner Sharyn Speakman from Bushland Health Group discusses her experience and the processes she used to develop an advance care planning policy and procedures for the Bushland Health Group residential aged care facilities.