A residential aged care end-of-life care pathway (RAC EoLCP) for Australian aged care facilities.

The objective of this study was to develop, implement and evaluate an end-of-life (terminal) care pathway and associated infrastructure suitable for Australian residential aged care facilities that improves resident and health system outcomes. The residential aged care end-of-life care pathway was developed by a multidisciplinary collaboration of government and non-government professionals and incorporated best clinical management for dying residents to guide care and increase palliative care capacity of generalist staff. Implementation included identifying and up-skilling Link Nurses to champion the pathway, networking facilities with specialist palliative care services, delivering education to generalists and commencing a Palliative Care Medication Imprest System in each facility.

Lack of benefit from paracetamol (acetaminophen) for palliative cancer patients requiring high-dose strong opioids: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover trial.

Context: The adjunctive use of paracetamol (acetaminophen) with strong opioids has become entrenched practice in palliative care pain management, despite little evidence to support its use.

Objective: The study aim was to investigate potential analgesic benefits of 4 g of paracetamol daily for palliative cancer patients requiring high-dose opioids.

Methods: Thirty-one patients, using at least 200mg of oral morphine equivalent daily, were recruited to a prospective, double-blinded, randomized, crossover trial.