There’s an elephant in the room of residential aged care
A blog post written by Janelle White
If you knew you were going to die in the next 12, 6 or even 3 months what would you do? I know what I’d do, I would want to spend more time doing what I love and being with the people I love, and given the circumstances, I would want to feel the best I could possibly feel to do just that. I would want to make sure everything was in place to get the most out of every day that I have left. I would want to stop doing unnecessary things and focus on the important things.
There’s a simple phrase that captures what I have just described, but it is indeed for many ‘the elephant in the room’, it is called palliative care and in this circumstance, it is not only what I would want, but it is what I would expect and embrace. Despite the positive impact the action of palliative care can have on the person who is dying and their loved ones, it is often the words ‘palliative care’ that instil fear and dread into those who hear them. Not for me, I have seen the wonderful benefits of palliative care, the way it can bring more life to each day for the dying person, and the way it can be the ‘tap on the shoulder’ that brings loved ones closer together.
Enter residential aged care, we need to talk about the elephant in your room…
In Australia, around 60,000 people who are living in an aged care home die each year. Many of the people who die have been in the aged care home for less than 12 months and almost one in five have been there for less than three months. [1] It is clear that aged care homes are major providers of end-of-life care, yet the stigma and/or misunderstanding around palliative care appears to be alive and well among both residents and staff. Given the description of benefits and positive impact of palliative care provided above, shouldn’t this be available to every resident before their final days so they too can get the most out of life?
The Palliative Aged Care Outcomes Program (PACOP) seeks to help every aged care home in Australia to embed palliative care as routine practice for people who are approaching death. This includes standardised evidence-based assessment of the needs and concerns of all residents so that no resident or their loved one misses out on the benefits of palliative care. PACOP ensures early identification of palliative care needs and provides a framework for addressing those needs both before and when they arise, this means more quality of life for the remaining days of life. One of the great things about PACOP is the promotion of good conversations and communication between residents, their families and staff working in aged care about the ‘elephant in the room’, that is palliative care. Finally, PACOP helps aged care homes know what they are doing well and what areas need more work so they can keep improving how they deliver palliative care to the residents and their loved ones.
PACOP is a national initiative funded by the Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care. PACOP’s simple aim is to support aged care homes to improve palliative care outcomes for residents and their families. Want to learn more? Please contact me janellew@uow.edu.au, I am happy to talk about elephants, but I love talking about palliative care even more. You could also take a moment to visit the PACOP Website.
Let’s embrace that elephant together!
References
- Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. People leaving aged care [Internet]. 2022 [updated 2022 Jul 28; cited 2022 Sep 6].
Janelle White is a registered nurse who specialises in palliative care and is also a senior research fellow with the Australian Health Services Research Institute. In her current role Janelle is working in the new Palliative Aged Care Outcomes Program as the National Quality & Education Manager. Janelle spends her spare time on her farm with ‘Pablo the unlikely farm dog’.