It has been suggested that the western world has lost its 'death literacy' as we increasingly look to outsource end of life care to businesses. A new public health approach to palliative care has been put forward as a compassionate alternative ...

We make plans for our holidays, careers and families but a new study shows just how many Australians baulk when it comes to preparing for the inevitable – their death. Only one in four Australians have had a conversation with ...

In 2004, chief executive Kim Macgowan was chatting with The District Nurses team and came across a student nurse who was sobbing. The nurse felt she had just made the last visit to one of the service’s clients. The man ...

Peak body calls for comment to help shape new, streamlined set of guidelines for best practice.  Australia’s peak organisation for palliative care is calling for interested parties to provide feedback on the revised national draft standards. Palliative Care Australia, which ...

Three different types of palliative care specialists discuss their roles and how to serve patients better. By Dallas Bastian. The growing demand for end-of-life care is making the role of the specialist palliative care nurse increasingly important, those within the ...

We are more likely to pass away in hospital, among strangers, than at home surrounded by our own, which places nurses in a new ethical position.  Traditionally, before we entered the modern era of nursing, a large portion of people ...

Following Palliative Care Week, professor Patsy Yates, president of Palliative Care Australia, explains the role nurses can play. Throughout our lives, every one of us will experience the loss of someone close, whether a family member, neighbour or friend. At ...

For a number of reasons, not everyone who needs good end-of-life care is able to receive it, writes Yvonne Luxford Perhaps it is because it is such a young discipline that palliative care engages in a lot of self-analysis. Unlike ...

New research has highlighted how ‘care pathways’ can help GPs and aged care staff work together to plan ‘end of life’ care with residents and their families. The La Trobe University study of 14 aged care homes in two states ...

A leading educator says nurses and other health professionals need to be taught more about how different cultural groups approach death and dying, reports Linda Belardi. Renowned healthcare ethics expert Professor Megan-Jane Johnstone has called for a component of death ...