Palliative care DVD
Rural health professionals working in palliative care have been given a helping hand by UniSA’s Centre for Regional Engagement.
The Centre has developed a new resource manual and produced a DVD package on pastoral care, counselling and support, in partnership with health care professionals from regional SA. The resource material focuses specifically on dealing with the psychological needs of patients, their families and caregivers.
"The University began the project after recognising that looking after the psychological needs of palliative care patients is an important part of their care that can sometimes be overlooked," said project leader Associate Professor Mary Oliver.
"The research based resource materials have been developed through consultation with medical practitioners, nurses, social workers, bereavement counsellors and hospital chaplains about the psychological care of palliative care clients and their families and caregivers.
"The state-of-the-art products, developed using a case-based reasoning approach, will assist health professionals in dealing with pastoral care, counselling and support of their patients."
The materials were developed following consultation with rural, state and national health care professionals who were part of an expert reference group for the project. The content of the DVD was filmed at the Murray Mallee Community Health Service, Murray Bridge involving actors including Katrina Board who is a UniSA Performing Arts student in the School of Communication, International Studies and Languages.