About the palliAGED Practice Tip sheets
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About the palliAGED Practice Tip sheets and modules

The palliAGED Nurse and Careworker Practice Tip Sheets aim to support and improve care for older AustraliansIn the 2017-2020 funding period CareSearch undertook work to consolidate all aged care resources into a single location to simplify access for the sector. This consolidation for aged care project involved relocation of content from the CareSearch Residential Aged Care Hub to palliAGED. As part of this, and through extensive updating and re-writing of content in collaboration with an experienced team of palliative care clinicians a series of materials were developed to introduce the aged care workforce to palliative care. A particular emphasis of this project was to develop resources relevant to the respective scopes of practice of Careworkers and Nurses new to palliative and/or aged care.

palliAGED Practice Tip Sheets

The palliAGED Practice Tip Sheets for careworkers and nurses have been developed to support those providing palliative care to older people. The aim is to provide a gateway to training and understanding in palliative care by introducing core concepts including approaches to person-centred and symptom and care issues. The parallel series for careworkers and nurses cover the same 37 topics highlighted by the expert review group as being both relevant and important. An overview of generalised Tip Sheet content is provided below.

Covering a range of care issues, the Tip Sheets for careworkers are suitable for independent and in-house team training of careworkers. The palliAGED Practice Tip Sheets for nurses cover the same care issues at a level suitable for nurses newly engaged with providing palliative care to older people, or as support for training sessions with careworkers. Originally released in March 2019, an expanded second edition was released in September 2019.

For health and care professionals with more experience we recommend visiting the palliAGED Improving Practice pages and related Evidence Centre for more information and guidance.

The Information in the Practice Tip Sheets is of a general nature, and health and care professionals should use their best clinical judgement in the way in which it is used. Individuals should seek professional medical care and advice as required. Read the Clinical Disclaimer

The Tip Sheets for nurses also list tools that may be useful. This is not a recommendation or endorsement but serves to highlight the availability of tools that might be considered when providing care. The online versions of palliAGED Practice Tip Sheets are regularly updated to reflect new evidence and we recommend that you regularly check for updates to the information.

Careworkers content

For each issue addressed, the palliAGED Practice Tip Sheet includes:

A description of:

  • What it is
  • Why it matters
  • What I need to know.

What to Note and what to Do, ways to actively provide the right care for each person in your care.

Questions to prompt reflection on what the information presented means in terms of current and future care.

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Nurses content

For each issue addressed, the palliAGED Practice Tip Sheet includes:

A description of:

  • What it is
  • Why it matters
  • What I need to know.

Actions to take and Tools that may be useful in support of care decisions

Questions to prompt reflection on what the information presented means in terms of current and future care.
 

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About using the Tip Sheets

palliAGED Practice Tip Sheets can be worked through in any order. Each Tip Sheet can be helpful as a standalone item and other relevant Tip Sheets are indicated. The evidence and references used to develop the palliAGED Practice Tip Sheets are provided as a companion supplement to each sheet.

Suggested ways of using the collection by careworkers include:

  • independent learning
  • use of Tip Sheets to support discussions with nurses/supervisors and others about palliative care and individual care needs
  • completion of the reflection questions to support understanding and identify where more support may be useful

Suggested ways of using the collection by nurses and educators include:

  • independent learning for professional development purposes
  • in-house group training for professional development and quality improvement initiatives
  • demonstration of staff training and development through completion and collation of palliAGED Practice Tip Sheet reflections
  • use of Tip Sheets to support facilitated staff discussion on palliative care and individual care needs
  • completion of the reflection questions to identify gaps at an organisation and/or individual level and highlight opportunities for improvement
  • combined with the palliAGED Practice Tip Sheets for careworkers in aged care to facilitate training of careworkers/personal attendants.

We are keen to hear from you and encourage you to forward comments and suggestions to palliaged@flinders.edu.au  You can find out more about the project by visiting the Building the palliAGED Practice Tip Sheets page.

palliAGED Introduction Modules development

CareSearch/palliAGED recognises the importance of stepped approaches to learning. We also understand the value of employing different formats to accommodate learner diversity and time constraints among those providing direct care. In 2021 a series of modules introducing concepts from the palliAGED Practice Tip Sheets for Nurses were developed and released. Developed in collaboration with Opal Healthcare, the Introduction modules provide a first point of contact with the topic of palliative care while also providing practical ways to integrate this into everyday care and interaction with older people. Modules generally take 15 minutes to complete, refer to the corresponding palliAGED Practice Tip Sheets, and include learning outcomes and questions to prompt individual reflection.

The following list of modules were developed:

  • Introduction – an introduction to palliative care phases and palliAGED resources
  • Self-care
  • Person-centred care
  • Talking about dying
  • Recognising deterioration
  • Case conferences
  • End of life care pathways
  • Pain
  • Symptoms
  • Care Issues

All modules were made publicly available through the palliAGED website on May 20th, 2021. 
Care providers were also encouraged to contact CareSearch should they wish to host modules on local Learning Management Systems (LMS).

Feedback recieved to date suggests that in addition to palliative care novices, even more experienced nurses find this refresher of palliative care basics useful. Selected modules have also been recommended by some organisations for auxillary workers including kitchen and cleaning staff and again have been well received.


Page created 15 October 2021