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New: The Advance Project® Dementia Specific Training and Resources

Our new free training and resources make initiating end-of-life conversations and assessing palliative care
needs of people living with dementia easier, to enable better care

Empowering aged and primary care teams to support people living with dementia

End-of-life planning (advance care planning) and palliative care are important aspects of care for people living with dementia and their families.

It has been identified that people living with dementia and their carers often don’t have the opportunity to discuss advance care planning and access to palliative care, resulting in unmet needs.

In fact, frontline aged and primary care staff report a lack of confidence and skills in advance care planning and palliative care provision for people living with dementia, and a need for practical resources.

Our dementia training and resources have been specifically created for clinicians, managers, and careworkers in aged and primary care settings, to build greater confidence, capacity, and skills.

"The knowledge I gained from this training gives me more confidence in organising advance care planning with clients and family." - Care Manager, Residential Aged Care

"The resources to guide people through advance care planning are excellent!"
- Dementia Nurse Consultant

Learn more about the Dementia Specific Training and Resources

Download our helpful information sheet


The dementia specific training and resources are for*:
  • Registered and enrolled nurses, managers, care coordinators and allied health professionals in residential and community aged care.
  • Careworkers, support workers/assistants in nursing in residential and community aged care.
  • Registered and enrolled nurses and allied health professionals working in primary or community care settings.
  • Dementia consultants.
  • Other health professionals involved in the care of people living with dementia.
* The dementia specific training and resources are relevant to GPs/other doctors in aged or primary care. There is specific Advance Project training for GPs and other doctors.
 


The Advance Project dementia training and resources aim to enable better healthcare outcomes for people living with dementia, and to build capacity in aged and primary care to:
  • Initiate conversations about advance care planning with people living with different stages of dementia.
  • Empower and prepare families to advocate for the person’s end-of-life care wishes in the future.
  • Identify people with dementia who would benefit from a structured assessment of their palliative care needs.
  • Systematically assess the palliative care needs of the person living with dementia.
  • Identify those people with dementia who would most benefit from referral to specialist palliative care services.
 

 

Download our benefits flyer to learn more

The dementia specific training and resources will:
  • Enable earlier consideration and uptake of advance care planning in residential aged care, community aged care, and primary care settings for people living with different stages of dementia.
  • Increase confidence to initiate conversations about advance care planning and palliative care.
  • Enable teamwork in advance care planning and palliative care for people living with dementia.
  • Contribute to Continuous Professional Development requirements for relevant practitioners.
  • Empower and prepare families to advocate for the person’s end-of-life care wishes in the future.
  • Enable timely referrals to specialist palliative care services if required.
  • Support aged and primary care organisations to implement the new training and resources to improve care for their residents/clients/patients.
The ultimate goal is to enable people living with dementia to have the opportunity to express their needs and preferences for care at the end of life, as well as access to palliative care and support for their families and carers.
 


The dementia specific training is FREE of charge and conveniently accessed online. The eLearning options include:
The Advance Project® Dementia: Clinician/Manager Course
  • This eLearning aims to provide an overview of advance care planning and palliative care for people living with dementia.
  • This practical, interactive, and self-directed course, which includes engaging video content, has been developed for aged and primary care professionals to explain how to use The Advance Project Dementia suite of resources with people living with dementia and their families.
  • It is designed for registered and enrolled nurses, allied health staff, managers and care coordinators working in residential, home/community and primary care settings who are interested in learning and developing their skills to initiate advance care planning and assess palliative care needs with people living with dementia.
  • There are 9 modules in this course. This course is expected to take approximately 4 hours.
  • You do not have to complete the entire course in one sitting. You can stop and continue from where you left when it suits you.

Enrol now

The Advance Project® Dementia: Careworker Course
  • This practical, interactive, and self-directed eLearning course aims to provide careworkers with an overview of advance care planning and palliative care for people living with dementia.
  • It has been developed for careworkers in residential and community aged care settings to explain how to use the Advance Project (Dementia) suite of resources with people living with dementia and their families.
  • The Advance Project Dementia Careworkers Course is designed for all frontline careworkers, assistants in nursing, support workers and other similar roles working in residential and home/community aged care settings who want to develop their skills in palliative care needs assessment with people living with dementia.
  • There are 5 modules in this course. This course is expected to take approximately 2 hours.
  • You do not have to complete the entire course in one sitting. You can stop and continue from where you left when it suits you.

Enrol now

The Advance Project® Dementia: Train-the-Trainer Program
  • This program aims to empower aged care providers and primary health organisations in each state and territory to promote the dementia resources and training among frontline staff and to enable long-term sustainability and dissemination of the resources.
  • The sessions will support educators or champions in local services or networks to support other staff in their work place to use the dementia online training and resources.
  • The Train-the-Trainer sessions will be conducted by small group webinars and videoconferencing to enable greater reach.

Please contact us at AdvanceProject@hammond.com.au if you would like to know more about the Train-the-Trainer program.

Enquire now

 

 
The Advance Project dementia specific resources empower aged and primary care clinicians, managers, and careworkers to initiate advance care planning conversations with people living with dementia, and to assess palliative care needs of people living with dementia. There are also resources available for people living with dementia and their families/carers.
The resources can all be accessed FREE of charge online and include:
  • The Advance Project® Guide (Dementia): Initiating advance care planning and assessing palliative care needs of people living with dementia.
  • The Quick Guide and Advance Care Planning Screening Interview tools for introducing advance care planning with a person living with dementia (own or supported approach to advance care planning, most commonly suitable for people living with mild or moderate stages of dementia)
  • The Quick Guide and Advance Care Planning Screening Interview tools for introducing advance care planning with substitute decision-makers and family members of a person who no longer has capacity to make healthcare decisions (substituted approach to advance care planning usually required in the advanced stages of dementia).
  • The ‘Planning Together’ guide for people living with dementia.
  • The 'Planning For’ guide for families and substitute decision-makers.
  • The ‘Who will speak for you if you can’t speak for yourself’ resource for a person living with early dementia, to help the person choose a substitute-decision maker.
  • The ‘Surprise Question’ and SPICT to identify people living with dementia who may benefit from a palliative care needs assessment.
  • The Distress Observation Tool (DOT) for care staff, families and health professionals caring for a person with advanced dementia.
  • The Advance Project Referral Triage Tool for residential or home care settings (as applicable) to help identify additional support that may be needed to meet a person’s palliative and supportive care needs.
  • Communications tips for explaining the need for referral to specialist palliative care services (if required).

Access Dementia Specific Resources

 

 
  • The resources and training are available FREE of charge for clinicians, managers, and careworkers in Australian aged and primary care settings.
  • The Advance Project® (Dementia) is funded by the Australian Government, and led by HammondCare in partnership with CareSearch.
  • The self-paced dementia training is delivered conveniently online. You do not have to complete the entire course in one sitting. You can stop and continue from where you left when it suits you.
  • The dementia resources can all be accessed and downloaded online.
 


Contact the Advance Project team at AdvanceProject@hammond.com.au
 

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Page last updated 20 December 2022