(Dr Peter Saul talks about patient centred decision making 1.2MB)

Health Professionals should review the "for everyone" section, which also contains important content. This section contains additional content, which is more appropriate for health professionals, but is available to anyone who wants to explore the topic further.

Two points that are critical for health professionals in end of life planning are:

1) Palliative Care.

2) Understanding the concepts behind "capacity".

Palliative Care

Palliative Care does not mean the withdrawal of medical care.

Palliative Care is an active specialised type of care, where the burden of each medical intervention is weighed up against its possible outcomes. Special attention is given to interventions that will improve quality of life. Palliative Care does not necessarily mean a shortened duration of life, and it certainly does not mean euthanasia. The core principle of advanced care planning is that the individual has a choice between two different recognized approaches to their situation. This is usually only possible if one option is active Palliative Care.

Good Palliative Care is often delivered by specialised Palliative Care teams, but it is possible for a skilled General Practitioner, and General Nursing team, to deliver good Palliative Care.

Palliative Care as a specialty began with cancer care, but has now been expanded to include other forms of chronic illness care.

Palliative Care Australia has a web site exploring Palliative Care in Residential Aged Care.

Guidelines for a Palliative Approach in Residential Aged Care.

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