Palliative Care Guide for GPs – Caring for Rural People

1. Rural and Remote Areas

The CareSearch rural and remote areas webpage (Community diversity pages moving) provides a perspective on how palliative care can be undertaken and how to overcome the common barriers faced in rural and remote regions of Australia.

2. Assessing prognosis

To guide clinical decision-making the CareSearch assessing prognosis webpage provides access to assessment tools which can aid in determining if a patients care needs to change.

3. GP hub

The CareSearch GP Hub has tools, resources and information to support your care to rural and remote patients with life-limiting illness.

4. Forms, checklists and tools

A GP specific set of forms, checklists and tools have been developed or reproduced by CareSearch / palliAGED to assist you in providing palliative care. These may be downloaded for free.

5. Primary health care

The CareSearch primary health care section provides information on care pathways including referral triggers and strategies for transferring patients, and MBS items for GPs.

6. Conversation starters

The CareSearch conversation starters (159kb pdf) can make talking to patients, carers and families easier and can activate care planning.

7. Resources in your language

Information in different languages is available on the CareSearch resources in your language webpage which makes it easier to provide palliative care information to people from diverse backgrounds.

8. Pain management

For reliable evidence-based information on medications for the management of pain and symptoms and medications from the PBS Prescriber bag (96kb pdf).

9. Support for patients, carers, and families

To help patients to stay at home for as long as possible the Palliative Care Support for Patients, Carers, and Families booklet (4.45MB pdf) provides a starting point for understanding palliative care and the support available.

10. Bereavement, grief, and loss

Online practical resources to help carers, families and friends with grief and loss are available on the CareSearch bereavement, grief and loss resources webpage.