Better health and ageing for all Australians
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Palliative Care

3. Education, training and support for the workforce

This page describes how the Australian Government, under the National Palliative Care Program, is improving the clinical skills and knowledge of health professionals in palliative care.

In this section:

Many people prefer to die at home within their local community, supported by family and friends. Their care is often provided by health workers who know the person and family - particularly general practitioners, palliative care specialists and community nurses – with support from palliative care services when needed.

Health care providers and others involved in palliative care need access to training appropriate to local conditions. The government believes that palliative care should be regarded as an integral part of the health care system.

The Australian Government supports improvement in the skills and knowledge of health professionals in palliative care.

The projects funded to address education and training initiatives are:

A Program of Experience in the Palliative Approach (PEPA)

PEPA is a national program which is being implemented in conjunction with States and Territories. PEPA provides palliative care workplace training opportunities and workshops for a range of health care professionals, including nurses, allied health professionals, Aboriginal health workers, general practitioners and other medical practitioners.

For more information about PEPA placements and workshops please contact the PEPA manager in your State or Territory. These contacts, along with more detailed information about the project, are available from the PEPA website at: www.pepaeducation.com

Guidelines for a Palliative Approach in Residential Aged Care (APRAC)

In 2004, the Guidelines for a Palliative Approach in Residential Aged Care were distributed to every aged care home in Australia.

The Guidelines provide a framework for:
    • enhancing the care of residents and their families by offering them a palliative approach when appropriate; and
    • increasing the knowledge and range of skills of staff in providing the palliative approach in caring for residents and their families.
Information about training resources to support the implementation of the Guidelines is available from the aged care page of the Palliative Care Australia website at: http://www,palliativecare.org.au

Certificate III and IV Units of Competency in the Palliative Approach

The Department funded the Community Services and Health Industry Skills Council to develop two units of competency about a palliative approach for Certificate III and Certificate IV qualifications. The units of competency were endorsed in January 2006 and are:
    • CHCPA01A Deliver Care Services using a Palliative Approach; and
    • CHCPA02A Plan for and Provide Care Services using a Palliative Approach.
The Department also funded Palliative Care Australia to develop a teaching resource for the two units of competency in the palliative approach. The resource contains:
    • A copy of the DVD/video called ‘Suit the Needs’; and
    • Individual manuals for each of the two competencies.
The resource is available from Palliative Care Australia on (02) 6232 4433 or through their website at: http://www.palliativecare.org.au at a cost of $225 each.

Pain Management Guidelines for Residential Aged Care

The National Palliative Care Program funded the development of a Pain Management Guidelines Kit to support the implementation of the Pain in Residential Aged Care Facilities – Management Strategies document produced by the Australian Pain Society. This kit was distributed to all aged care homes and palliative care services in 2008.

Copies of both documents are available on request from the Department at: www.health.gov.au/internet/main/publishing.nsf/Content/ageing-publicat-download-ordfree.htm . Both documents can be found on the Australian pain Society’s website at www.apsoc.org.au Tope of page

Guidelines for a Palliative Approach for Aged Care in the Community Setting (COMPAC)

The Guidelines for a Palliative Approach for Aged Care in the Community Setting (the Guidelines) were developed as a companion document to the Guidelines for a Palliative Approach in Residential Aged Care.

Four documents have been developed as part of the Guidelines including:
    • Guidelines for a Palliative Approach for Aged Care in the Community Setting;
    • Guidelines for a Palliative Approach for Aged Care in the Community Setting Volume 2 - Processes Underpinning Best Practice Recommendations includes evidence and references supporting the Guidelines;
    • A supporting booklet for care workers; and
    • A supporting booklet for older people receiving care, their families and friends.
The target audience for the Guidelines will be practitioners providing palliative care to older people in the community, including general practitioners, community nurses and organisations providing support for people being cared for at home.

Copies of the Guidelines resources are available on The Guidelines for a Palliative Approach for Aged Care in the Community Setting page on this website.

More information on this project is available on the CareSearch website at: www.caresearch.com.au

Palliative Care Curriculum for Undergraduates (PCC4U)

The first stage of this project developed resources to enable palliative care approaches and techniques to be incorporated into medical, nursing and allied health undergraduate curricula. The second stage provided national support to several tertiary institutions to implement and promote the use of the following palliative care undergraduate curriculum resources:
    • a publication entitled Principles for Including Palliative Care in Undergraduate Curricula;
    • interactive CD-ROMS and web-based teaching and learning resources and accompanying facilitator guides;
    • a resource compendium
    • a video learning resource; and
    • a publication entitled Principles for Including a palliative Approach to Aged Care in Undergraduate Nursing Curricula.
The Queensland University of Technology is currently implementing the national roll-out of the developed resources to all universities which offer medical, nursing and allied health undergraduate training. This third phase of the project will be completed by June 2010.

More information on this project is available at: www.pcc4u.org

Respecting Patient Choices

The Australian Government is implementing the Respecting Patient Choices (RPC) program through Austin Health, Victoria. The RPC program is a comprehensive advance care planning training program for health professionals, that aims to ensure patients’ choices about their end of life care are respected. The program will improve the quality and effectiveness of end of life care by providing patients with a mechanism for discussing and recording their choices about health care in an advance care plan.

The RPC program targeted the acute care sector through a national roll-out into one hospital in each State and territory. The role of these lead hospitals is now to support other hospitals to implement the program on a wider basis.

Under the current phase of the program which runs until June 2010, Austin Health will trial the program in selected community-based specialist palliative care services. They will also continue to refine the training for RPC facilitators, maintain the RPC website, update education resources including the general practitioner on-line program about advance care planning and plan for long-term sustainability of the program in Australia.

More information is available from the program’s website at: www.respectingpatientchoices.org.au
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