Support for carers and families

Frequently asked questions

Using the caring@home resources

How do I teach a carer to help manage breakthrough symptoms safely using subcutaneous medicines?

If the carer does decide to take on this role, a nurse will teach them what they need to know in a one-on-one training session. There are many resources that have been developed by caring@home to support nurses to conduct this training. The most important resources are the online education modules for registered nurses and the online education module for Aboriginal Health Workers.

You can also find the resources for carers: step-by-step guides, carers handbook, practice demonstration kit, videos and the competency checklist. You can also find the resources for carers: use the maxtrix above to choose the right resources. These resources are designed to support nurses to teach carers to help manage symptoms and provide personal care for a person at home.

The resources for carers are left in the home so the carer can refer to them at any time. The carer is trained and supported by the nursing service/GP/pharmacist and has access to 24-hour phone support from medical professionals. Clinical judgement is important to determine which resources are most appropriate to meet the learning needs of the individual carers.

How much time does it take to teach a carer using the caring@home resources?

Teaching carers requires an initial time commitment of between 30 to 60 minutes. Actual time required depends on many factors however, it does save time later as carers are better prepared to care meaning less phone calls and call-outs for nurses.

How can I offer training, without making carers feel obligated to perform this role or guilty if they don’t want to do it?

The role of giving subcutaneous medicines is voluntary; nurses should communicate this to the carers and make it clear that they can cease this role at any time. The caring@home Information for carers brochure is a useful resource to support this discussion.

Conversations about giving subcutaneous medicines to help manage breakthrough symptoms should not occur in isolation instead, nurses, using their clinical judgement, should have these iterative conversations in the context of the preparatory discussions they are having about recognising clinical changes and deterioration in patients who are dying.

If patients need urgent symptom relief overnight, can’t the after-hours service do that for them?

Patients and families become very distressed if symptoms are not managed in a timely fashion. If a patient and carer are waiting for a 24-hour service to visit there is a risk that the patient will be in distress until support arrives. Some services report that after-hours services response times may be lengthy leading to increased patient and carer distress. In addition, many patients and carers will not have access to a 24-hour home visiting service.

Why do services need to provide 24-hour on-call phone support?

For patient safety and carer confidence, the caring@home resources must be used only by services that provide a 24-hour on-call phone number for carers, to provide appropriate clinical advice about managing subcutaneous medicines.

Focus group interviews with carers who used the resources found that carers valued having the reassurance of a 24-hour contact phone number even if they didn’t necessarily use it.

How do I know how to handle palliative care medicines in the community?

The Guidelines for the handling of palliative medicines in community services, can be used by clinical services to inform the development of protocols and procedures tailored to the requirements of individual services. These guidelines are applicable to all jurisdictions across Australia.