End of Life and Palliative Care Training for Aged Care Workers
For many Australians, aged care is where they will spend their final days. Providing compassionate, dignified end-of-life care is both a privilege and a professional responsibility. This training module prepares your team to recognise when a consumer is approaching end of life, deliver comfort-focused palliative care, support families through grief, and ensure that each person's final wishes are honoured.
What This Training Covers
- Principles of palliative care and the palliative approach in aged care
- Recognising the physical signs of approaching death
- Comfort care planning — pain management, positioning and oral care
- Supporting emotional, spiritual and cultural needs at end of life
- Communicating sensitively with families and substitute decision-makers
- Advance care directives — understanding and honouring them
- After-death care — procedures and cultural considerations
- Staff self-care and debriefing after bereavement
Key Learning Outcomes
- Apply the principles of the palliative approach in daily aged care practice
- Recognise physical, emotional and spiritual signs that death may be approaching
- Provide effective comfort care aligned to the consumer's preferences and care plan
- Communicate sensitively and accurately with families during this time
- Access debriefing support after the death of a consumer
Who Should Complete This Training
All direct care staff, RNs, enrolled nurses and lifestyle coordinators. Particularly important for staff in high-care or low-ratio settings. Managers should ensure all staff have completed this training and that debriefing processes are available after each bereavement.
Alignment to the Strengthened Aged Care Quality Standards
Strongly aligned to Standard 5 (Clinical Care), which requires a planned, evidence-based approach to end-of-life care, and Standard 1 (The Person), which upholds the right of every consumer to have their wishes respected — including at end of life.
Ensure Advance Care Directives Are Accessible When It Matters
Governa ensures your facility's palliative care policies and advance care directive records are accessible to the right staff at the right time — and mapped to Standard 5 and Standard 1 of the Strengthened Standards.
