An expanded and enhanced online palliative care resource is now available for health professionals.
The resource is Flinders University’s CareSearch Evidence Centre, which provides access to an expanded and upgraded range of evidence-based and translation materials for health professionals.
This new centrepiece of the CareSearch website includes clinical evidence summaries, links to palliative care guidelines, and relevant palliative care tools for use in practise and research.
The most important additions are two new training resources. The first focuses on helping health professionals develop their knowledge and skills in evidence-based practise. The second set of resources looks at translation and implementation of evidence for use in the workplace and in health services.
Access to evidence is a critical first step in realising the value of evidence to improve care. A well-informed workforce that can find and use evidence in their practice and in their services, can improve the care of people coming to the end of their life.
Professor Jennifer Tieman, CareSearch Director and Director of the Research Centre for Palliative Care, Death and Dying said, ‘CareSearch has created a one-stop evidence resource that is contextualised for the needs of health professionals providing palliative care.
‘With an ageing population and increasing chronic disease as well as life limiting illnesses such as cancer, the number of people needing palliative care is increasing. All health professionals will need to be able to support people who are coming to the end of their life and meet their care needs.
‘Death and dying will affect us all. Our aim is to ensure everyone receiving or providing palliative care has access to trustworthy evidence-informed information to support person-centred decision-making and the transition to palliative care.
‘Understanding the ways that evidence can improve practise, the models and frameworks available, and how to introduce and gain acceptance by staff and management, can only better serve positive outcomes in delivering palliative care.’