ABSTRACT
This chapter defines palliative care and related terms and discusses when and where a palliative approach to care may be offered in an aged-care context. Key issues associated with a palliative approach to care for older persons facing a progressive or terminal illness will then be outlined, building on the results of the Australian Palliative Residential Aged Care Study, which developed the Guidelines for a Palliative Approach in Residential Aged Care. Older individuals coping with a progressive or chronic illness may experience a range of physical symptoms that require prompt attention. The prevalence of symptoms associated with the palliative-care phase of an illness remains the same for those in a residential aged-care facility as other palliative-care populations. The chapter concludes by outlining some of the barriers to palliative aged care and offers some direction regarding changes to the Australian aged-care health system that hold particular promise.
