Symptom Management

Resources for Health Professionals

Assessment and management of physical symptoms is a major focus of palliative care. CareSearch provides clinically relevant summaries of palliative care reviews for practitioners.

Click here for the link.

Palliative care – dealing with common symptoms

Common symptoms at end of life may include pain, constipation, nausea, breathlessness, fatigue and delirium. Relieving these symptoms is a key aim of palliative care.

Click here to access Victoria’s Better Health Channel to access information about dealing with common symptoms.

One of the most challenging tasks for families and carers supporting a person at home during end of life is providing practical care. To assist with this, caring@home has developed step-by-step guides and instructional videos for nurses to use when teaching families and carers, covering topics such as:

1 – How to care for the eyes and the nose on Vimeo

2 – How to care for the mouth on Vimeo

3 – How to change a pad on Vimeo

4 – How to position a person on Vimeo

5 – How to wash a person on Vimeo

Palliative Care Medications

Palliative medications are one component of a ‘whole-person’ approach to supporting people with life-limiting and terminal illnesses. CareSearch provides information on the commonly used medications in palliative care.

Click here for the link.

Accessing Core Medicines in the North Western Metropolitan Region

Click here to the interactive map to find pharmacies which have agreed to stock the core palliative care medicines.

Click here to access a list of core palliative care medicines.

Care Plan for the Dying Person

Safer Care Victoria has developed a generic care plan for the dying person.

Click here for the link.