News

The current COVID-19 pandemic is presenting many urgent challenges in healthcare. However, it is important to remember the continuing needs of current and new patients with other health problems. It is within this context that Professor Jennifer Tieman, CareSearch Director from Flinders University discusses telehealth and how it can be used in addressing unexpected and novel health problems.

CarerHelp is an online resource that empowers family carers to prepare for caring for a person with terminal illness. Di Saward from Centre for Palliative Care at St Vincent’s Hospital discusses the importance of identifying and appraising existing online resources to inform content, and some of the processes involved in developing CarerHelp.

The internet has provided a mechanism to make palliative care information freely accessible. However, the complexity of palliative care and situational stresses can influence a person’s ability to easily find, navigate and understand online information. It is for this reason that many developers of websites providing palliative care information conduct a usability evaluation during the development process. Amanda Adams discusses her research into evaluation of usability and accessibility during the development stage of an online resource or toolkit and whether this improves access and value.

As the aged care sector strives to provide the best care to our ageing population, new and innovative approaches facilitating the care provision process are warranted. Priyanka Bhattarai discusses the use of Digital Health Technologies (DHT) as a novel approach to facilitate care across the aged care sector.

With the vast health information available in the internet and social media, how do we support health consumers get trustworthy information? In 2017, we at CareSearch conducted a survey looking at how members of the community search for and use online health information, including palliative and end-of-life care. Joao Boavida Ferreira a guest MD from Portugal working with Southern Adelaide Palliative Services and Flinders University, CareSearch, discusses the findings of the survey.