Discover how virtual care is helping patients, families and carers to feel supported during palliative care; and the flexibility and collaboration it offers to clinical teams.
Two new videos sharing patient and family stories are among a series of resources developed to educate and support health professionals and consumers to access and use virtual care in palliative care.
"Virtual care can enable a supportive, person-centred and empathetic approach during end of life care,” says Vanessa Evans, Manager of the ACI's End of Life and Palliative Care Network, which partnered with the Virtual Care team on this project.
“The focus is on building the knowledge, skills and confidence of clinicians to promote a quality virtual care experience, close to home.”
Greg and Teresa, who share their story in the video above, are grateful they could use virtual care while caring for their son, Travis, who was diagnosed with MECP2 duplication syndrome when he was six; was non-verbal; and required full assistance. The family cherishes the flexibility virtual care gave them throughout his life, and the support received from the palliative care team in the final days before he died at the age of 19.
"Having that support [from the palliative care team] the day Travis died was amazing. They went above and beyond what anyone could expect.”
Greg says the greatest benefit was that they could access appointments and support anywhere. “We used [virtual care] on holidays. We gave Travis every adventure we could.”
Travis’s clinicians from the Paediatric Palliative Care Service at John Hunter Children's Hospital also recognise the benefits. As team member Shirleen says: "Virtual care gives us an insight into a patient's life, we see them in their own environment and get to know the family. This helps as we eventually might need to have difficult discussions - it builds that layer of trust."
Jim and Wendy also generously shared their experiences using virtual care from the time Jim was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2019 until he passed away last year. Travelling to medical appointments up to an hour away was difficult given Jim's severe pain, so his palliative care team introduced virtual care. Said Wendy at the time of filming: "It's just as effective I find, you still have a conversation and it's an in-person view rather than over the phone. And it frees up so much time during the day."
Resources for consumers
To support consumers to understand their choices when it comes to virtual palliative care, two new animated videos explain how Virtual care makes accessing palliative care easy. One gives advice to young people, their parents, and carers, while the other supports parents of children who require end of life and palliative care. Both videos have also been translated into Arabic, Vietnamese, Hindi and Simplified Chinese.
A fact sheet on Attending your Palliative Care Appointment Using Virtual Care has also been updated and translated into 10 languages.
Supporting flexibility and collaboration among clinicians
Clinicians also benefit from the flexibility of virtual care. For Belinda, a Palliative Care Nurse from the Port Stephens Palliative Care Service, it helps her small team spend more time providing quality care. “You can do a thorough assessment [using virtual care] and it helps to accommodate our workload.”
“Virtual care is a true enabler to integrated care,” says Donna Parkes, ACI's Virtual Care Stream Manager. “It enables care providers and family members to attend the appointment together.”
Virtual care also allows clinicians to collaborate across health services and geographical boundaries to request advice. “Virtual care extends clinical scope and opportunities to be involved in complex cases," add Donna. "Remote patient monitoring may also add benefits for end of life and palliative care. We look forward to exploring this further with consumers, carers and clinical teams.”
For clinicians and services keen to learn more about implementing virtual care in palliative care, a case study from the Southern NSW Palliative Care Service shares insights into how the service successfully uses virtual care to support palliative care patients in their homes, residential care facilities and hospital settings with no dedicated inpatient beds or staffing.
Learn more about virtual care resources for palliative care.