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Aged care

Clinical guides

Central to PCOC’s aged care outcomes program is a framework and protocol for routine clinical assessment and response. There are three key resources that help with this.

The three key resources are: Identifying and responding to palliative need flowchart, Palliative care routine assessment and response protocol for residential aged care, and Daily SAS guide.

These resources:

  • Are applicable in residential aged care facilities that are ready to implement PCOC
  • Create a clinical language via validated tools
  • Support consistency in responding to identified needs by recommending actions for each assessment tool
  • Help ensure staff have access to consistent information to plan and deliver care

Download the Identifying and responding to palliative need flowchart (pdf)

This flowchart outlines the steps in assessing and responding to palliative need in residential aged care facilities.

Download the Routine Assessment and Response protocol for Residential Aged Care (pdf)

This protocol provides guidance in using PCOC’s assessment tools to respond to the needs of residents. It includes recommendations about how to assess, screen, monitor, and respond to, palliative needs of residents. This protocol is supported by access to free education and IT provided by PCOC.

Download the Daily Symptom Assessment Scale (SAS) guide for care workers (pdf)

This guide is designed for RAC care workers who use the SAS each day with residents. Daily use of the SAS helps identify needs of residents quickly, which helps ensure that needs are escalated and met in a timely manner.

Download the Talking about your symptoms flyer (pdf)

This flyer contains information to support the assessment of distress (concern or worry) caused by symptoms. It is a brief, easy-to-understand information flyer that can be used with residents, especially when SAS is first being used.

© PCOC UOW 2020. The intellectual property associated with a suite of resources on this website is owned by the Palliative Care Outcomes Collaboration (PCOC), University of Wollongong. PCOC has placed resources in the public domain and is happy for others to use them without charge, modification or development. These resources cannot be modified or developed without the consent of the University.

PCOC is a national palliative care project funded by the Australian Government Department of Health.