As part of the Aged Care Standards, services will need to be able to show how they are addressing the requirements of Outcome 5.7. The Aged Care Commission has mapped requirements and provides guidance for providers and staff on their responsibility and how they will be audited.
Providers will need to be able to show how their systems and processes support quality palliative care and end of life care. Services should consider how they can show that staff are capable, and processes meet the expected standards of performance.
Demonstrating your activities
Below are a set of strategies that you can use to show how you are addressing the requirements of Outcome 5.7
- Undertake a Quality Improvement Process to examine current processes and consider what can be implemented immediately and what needs to be improved over time. The Supporting Change section has information on how to approach evidence-based quality improvement.
- Review palliAGED’s evidence centre to learn more about core clinical responsibilities and evidenced based palliative care practice. This can highlight any areas that may need change. Consider using the ELDAC After Death Audit (2.40MB pdf) to pinpoint any specific care issues.
- Identify tools and products that could form part of your clinical care processes to support identification, assessment, multidisciplinary care delivery, and last days of life. Document the process for selection and show how you have implemented it within your service(s). palliAGED has sets of tools and resources that can be implemented into your care process. Outcome 5.7 Evidence, Education and Clinical Resources Mapping provides options for all core clinical processes associated with Outcome 5.7.
- Develop an orientation and ongoing training schedule on palliative care and end of life care. Consider including an orientation pack for new staff, online learning options, and in-house short team updates. The For Educators and Managers page provides an overview of palliAGED resources and how they can be used for training. palliAGED’s Practice Tips for Nurses and Practice Tips for Careworkers are a useful resource for orientation and inhouse training.
- Consider implementing palliAGED’s learning modules into your local Learning Management System to report on staff completion rates.
- Sign up staff so they can receive the palliAGED newsletter and show they are connected to relevant information and resources.
- Investigate how your service can upload Advance Care Planning documents to MyHealth Record.
- When considering a clinical information system, quiz IT providers about what elements they have in their system that can assist you in demonstrating your end-of-life care processes.
All older people should expect comprehensive care as they age, decline and die. This needs to be acknowledged in care processes and workforce capability. This will enable services to show that they have addressed the requirements of Outcome 5.7.