Brave Flinders Research & Innovation Series | Dying Matters

Join Associate Professor Kim Devery in a discussion on what clinicians can do to improve the quality of end-of-life care to benefit patients and their families.

Few of us like to think too much about the end of our lives – however death is a part of life. One Australian dies every 3 minutes and 17 seconds, with 52% dying in acute hospitals, and the death rates is projected to double in the next 25 years as the ageing population increases.

Clinicians report it is often easier to continue treatments than to talk with patients and families about the end of life. Fear, denial and unrealistic expectations by clinicians can lead to invasive treatments or referrals that result in poor end-of-life care. Care at the end of life may be provided by strangers in critical circumstances without patients knowing or expressing what matters most to them.

End of Life Essentials (EOLE) provides online-learning opportunities and practice resources for doctors, nurses and allied health professionals to improve the quality and safety of end-of-life care in Australian hospitals.

We asked health care professionals: “Tomorrow, the one thing I can change to more appropriately provide end-of-life care is….” They were brave enough to answer. Join this discussion about how we die, what matters to care recipients, and how health care professionals can be better prepared to help people at the end-of-life.