Enhancing Graduate Nurse Transition: Report of the Evaluation of the Clinical Honors Program.

Background: The Bachelor of Nursing with Clinical Honors (Transition to Practice) program supports the transition of nursing graduates. It is the first initiative of its kind in Australia and is designed to integrate with existing graduate transition programs. The program is clinically focused, collaborative, and accessible online.

Pathways to palliative care for patients with chronic kidney disease.

Background: Despite the terminal nature of chronic kidney disease (CKD), end-of-life care planning is often inconsistent and pathways to palliative care are unclear. Health professionals' perceptions of palliative care and the prevailing context may influence their end-of-life decision making.

Objectives: To identify predictors of conservative treatment decisions and their associations with referral to palliative care, and to determine the perceptions that health professionals have about the role of palliative care in management of CKD.

Palliative care in end-stage kidney disease.

Patients with end-stage kidney disease have significantly increased morbidity and mortality. While greater attention has been focused on advanced care planning, end-of-life decisions, conservative therapy and withdrawal from dialysis these must be supported by adequate palliative care incorporating symptom control. With the increase in the elderly, with their inherent comorbidities, accepted onto dialysis, patients, their nephrologists, families and multidisciplinary teams, are often faced with end-of-life decisions and the provision of palliative care.