Palliative Care Conversations – preparing referring clinicians

The Southern Metropolitan Palliative Care Consortium is an alliance of palliative care services in a departmental region in Victoria. We have developed, piloted and evaluated a resource to assist palliative care services to improve the referrals to their service. There is little knowledge about how palliative care operates and what it does, even within the community of referring clinicians. Fear of having conversations with patients about death and dying is another reason for late or inappropriate referrals. This resource kit provides palliative care specialists with the tools to prepare clinicians in the community to refer appropriately. It covers the palliative care service system and identifies issues around difficult conversations. In addition, it lists a number of resources where clinicians can learn more. This project report will explore the reasons for developing the resource, the process of development, piloting and evaluation and gives participants an overview of what the kit contains and strategies to manage the issues. Participants will be invited to register to receive a free copy of the resource.