General practitioners and nurses in the community can support people in the community to be cared for, and to to die at home, if possible.
The Terminal Care Planning Checklists are a practical resource that can be used to help plan this care, including:
- Advance care planning and medical goals of treatment discussions and documents
- Necessary supporting documentation
- Symptom management assessments and plans
- Medicine management, including prescribing and deprescribing
- Spiritual, cultural and emotional needs of the patient
- Family and carer needs, including bereavement support
- Practical considerations, including equipment and consumables.
The use of these checklists supports the terminal care management clinical process as described in the Prompts for End-of-Life Planning (PELP) Framework.
Terminal care planning checklist for nurses in the community
This document provides a checklist to assist nurses providing care to a person at home in their final hours, days, or week.
Terminal care planning checklist for General Practice
The GP’s role in end-of-life care includes development of a terminal care management plan.
This document provides a checklist to assist GPs to prepare a terminal management care plan to guide the care for a person at home in their final hours, days, or week.
Note: The person’s terminal care management plan should be shared with other relevant health professionals.
Terminal Care Management Plan Template
GPs can use this template to develop a terminal care management plan for patients who are expected to die in the next few weeks.
It aligns with recommendations from the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners in the RACGP aged care clinical guide (Silver Book).
The template is available to use in Best Practice (V1.1) and Medical Director (V1.1) general practice software.
A terminal care management plan:
- is a useful to guide the care for a person at home in their final hours, days, week of life
- is shared with other health professionals
- supports patient-centred care.