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CareSearch

CareSearch is a national online resource providing trustworthy information and resources about palliative care across the life course, across the system and across the community. The information held on the CareSearch website has been developed and reviewed by Australian health professionals to ensure its quality and relevance.

Funded by the Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care, CareSearch was developed by the CareSearch Project Team www.caresearch.com.au at Flinders University, South Australia. CareSearch has been providing evidence-based information on palliative care for the Australian community since 2008.

When an illness cannot be cured and death will follow at some point, the focus of care changes to helping people have the best quality of life possible while managing their symptoms. The aim of palliative care is to help people live their life comfortably and as fully as possible by supporting their physical, emotional, social, and spiritual needs. Support for family and carers is also part of palliative care. Having trustworthy information to support decision-making at this time is important because death and dying will affect all of us.

Vision and mission

To ensure everyone receiving or providing palliative care has access to trustworthy evidence-informed information to support person-centred decision-making and the transition to palliative care.

How CareSearch can help

The CareSearch Project consolidates online palliative care knowledge for health professionals, people needing palliative care and their families, and for the general community.

All content is open access. There are specific sections written for patients and families, GPs, nurses, and allied health professionals. Additional support for those caring for older people can be found on the palliAGED website.

To ensure that what is published on the websites is trustworthy, CareSearch has developed and uses quality processes to ensure a structured approach to evidence retrieval, appraisal, and communication.

Information help lines

Programs, apps and tools

Recommended links

Last reviewed: December 2023

Information from this partner

Found 158 results

Searching for Evidence - Evidence

A place to access the many sources of evidence in palliative care. An evidence-based approach is one which uses the best available evidence to answer clinical and service-related questions. CareSearch is committed to providing access to the latest evidence in palliative care and provides the tools to help you find and use evidence for yourself.

Read more on CareSearch website

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People - Diverse Populations - Diversity - Community

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are more likely to have serious chronic health conditions including kidney disease, and coronary heart disease than non-indigenous Australians.

Read more on CareSearch website

LGBTI - Diverse Populations - Diversity - Community

Members of the LGBTI community have similar needs for palliative care as the non-LGBTI population. But they are significantly more likely to report two or more chronic conditions than non-LGBTI.

Read more on CareSearch website

Medicines Management - Clinical Care - Nurses - Health Professionals

The Nurses role in medications management. Managing medicines is core business for palliative care. The management of medicines is a problem.

Read more on CareSearch website

Responding to Strong Emotions - Working with Patients, Carers and Families - Allied Health - Health Professionals

Managing emotions. Palliative and end-of-life care can be challenging as patients and families find themselves in new and different circumstances.

Read more on CareSearch website

Sources of Information - Using Online Information - Patients and Carers - Community

Finding reliable information to make important decisions. The source or where information comes from matters. Here we provide some tips because when information is used to guide decisions about your health it is important that it is accurate and based on fact.

Read more on CareSearch website

Goals of Care / Planning and Coordinating Care / Nurses / Health Professionals

Goals of Care

Read more on CareSearch website

Spiritual Care - Clinical Care - Nurses - Health Professionals

Making sense of life towards the end. Spirituality is a universal human expression. It is the aspect of humanity that refers to the way individuals seek and express meaning and purpose.

Read more on CareSearch website

What to Say - Supporting Carers - How to Care - Patients and Carers - Community

Talking with someone who has a terminal illness. Knowing what to say, and not to say, can help with difficult conversations when someone you know is dying. Here we provide some tips.

Read more on CareSearch website

Multimedia - Patients and Carers - Community

Listen in your language to learn about palliative care. These videos and podcasts in different languages have been developed by the CareSearch project and our partners to provide an overview of palliative care.

Read more on CareSearch website

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