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End of life health
Coping with a terminal illness
This article provides advice on what to do if you need to talk to someone about your bad news, condition or how you are feeling.
End of life issues
This article explains some of the treatments that end-of-life patient may need, including surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy.
Grief before death
Find out how to cope with the news that someone you care for has a terminal illness.
Organ and tissue donation
It's important that you make decisions in relation to organ donation. We have put together a list of questions to help you find answers and address wo...
Palliative care
Palliative care is holistic care that aims to improve the quality of life of people who are dying. Read about the range of services available.
Start talking about your illness
Talking with your loved ones about your illness isn't always easy. Start a conversation with someone close to you by following these tips.
Need more information?
These trusted information partners have more on this topic.
Top results
At the End of Life
At the End of Life
Read more on palliAGED website
Dementia Australia | Planning: end-of-life
Making end-of-life decisions
Read more on Dementia Australia website
End of life | Redkite
Redkite is an Australian cancer charity that supports children and young people with cancer (024 years) and their families. We provide essential support from the moment of diagnosis until after treatment finishes, including financial assistance, information and counselling, and education and career support.
Read more on Redkite website
End of life | Redkite
Redkite is an Australian cancer charity that supports children and young people with cancer (024 years) and their families. We provide essential support from the moment of diagnosis until after treatment finishes, including financial assistance, information and counselling, and education and career support.
Read more on Redkite website
End-of-Life Care | Safety and Quality
Many Australians spend their last year of life going in and out of hospital, and more than half of those who die each year do so in acute care settings
Read more on Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care website
Home Care - What I can do- Recognise End of Life
End of life is when a person is living with, and impaired by, a fatal condition, even if the trajectory is ambiguous or unknown. This period may be years in the case of people with chronic or malignant disease, or very brief in the case of people who suffer acute and unexpected illnesses or events, such as sepsis, stroke or trauma.
Read more on End of Life Directions for Aged Care ELDAC website
Diabetes & Palliative Care
Diabetes and Palliative Care Diabetes needs to be managed across a lifespan including end of life care
Read more on Diabetes Australia website
Advance Care Planning
NSW Health is committed to respecting an individual's values and wishes for clinically appropriate end of life care.
Read more on NSW Health website
Palliative care | Leukaemia Foundation
While palliative care is often provided at the end of life it can also be provided at any time for a person with a life-threatening illness.
Read more on Leukaemia Foundation website
Advance Care Planning | Leukaemia Foundation
This is an important process where individuals discuss their wishes for end of life healthcare with those close to them and their healthcare team.
Read more on Leukaemia Foundation website
Top results
Communication at End-of-Life
Communication at End-of-Life
Read more on palliAGED website
Communication at End-of-Life - Synthesis
Communication at End-of-Life - Synthesis
Read more on palliAGED website
Home-based end-of-life care | Cochrane
A number of countries have invested in health services to provide care at home to people with a terminal illness who wish to die at home. The preferences of the general public and people with a terminal illness seem to support this, as most people indicate that they would prefer to receive end-of-life care at home.
Read more on Cochrane (Australasian Centre) website
Sedation medication for relieving symptoms at the end of life | Cochrane
People with diseases that are not curable may have a variety of symptoms at the end of life. These symptoms can include confusion (delirium), anxiety, restlessness, breathlessness (dyspnoea), pain, vomiting, and distress. Medicines that reduce consciousness (sedatives) may help relieve these symptoms when people are close to death.
Read more on Cochrane (Australasian Centre) website
Opioids for treating breathlessness at the end of life | Cochrane
People with lung disease may experience breathlessness. Initial treatments should focus on the underlying causes of breathlessness. However, as the disease progresses, it may be better to focus on treating the symptoms. As well as standard care, opioids (e.g. morphine, given either by mouth, by nebuliser, or injected) may help relieve these symptoms. However, opioids also have side effects, such as drowsiness, constipation, nausea (feeling sick), and vomiting.
Read more on Cochrane (Australasian Centre) website
Interventions for supporting family and friends of patients at the end of life | Cochrane
Family and friends are often central to the care of patients at the end of life. While providing such informal care can generate strong positive emotions, caring can be extremely stressful both mentally and physically. Support strategies are being developed. These can involve, for example, advice on caring and practical support. However, it is unclear if these strategies are beneficial.
Read more on Cochrane (Australasian Centre) website
ELDAC- Legal Toolkit
The Legal Toolkit provides practical information about the law at end of life for the aged care sector. It contains useful resources on end of life legal issues commonly encountered in aged care to help you to know the law and to support your practice.
Read more on End of Life Directions for Aged Care ELDAC website
Drug therapy for anxiety in palliative care | Cochrane
Anxiety is a common symptom in patients near the end of life. As with other areas of palliative care, the majority of available literature pertaining to drug therapy for anxiety is based on the reporting of anecdotes. A search of the international literature for randomised clinical trials in the area of drug therapy for symptoms of anxiety in palliative care yielded no results. As a consequence, it is not possible to assess the effectiveness of treatment options. It is hoped that this review will motivate future research in this area.
Read more on Cochrane (Australasian Centre) website
Advance treatment directives for people with severe mental illness | Cochrane
An advance treatment directive is a document that specifies a persons future preferences for treatment, should he or she lose the mental ability to make treatment decisions (lose capacity). They have traditionally been used to stipulate treatment in end-of-life situations. However, people with mental health problems can also have periods where they are unable to make treatment decisions, and an advance statement could help with choosing suitable medication, saying who should look after children and specifying choices in other areas of their life and treatment.
Read more on Cochrane (Australasian Centre) website
Early referral to a specialist doctor for people with kidney disease | Cochrane
Some degree of kidney failure affects about 15% to 25% of people and is a silent disease that creeps up on an individual with symptoms and signs developing only very late. When kidney failure becomes end-stage, life supporting therapy in the form of dialysis or transplantation is the only option available for the patient. This form of therapy is very expensive and highly intrusive into the patients' life. Measures to prevent progression to this terminal stage are of great importance to prevent this catastrophe.
Read more on Cochrane (Australasian Centre) website
