Aotearoa Specialist Adult Palliative Care Guidelines

The website hosts specialist adult palliative care guidelines, and include medication guidelines, patient information leaflets, drug monographs and protocols. 

The hope is to reflect current best practice in Aotearoa and use this as a tool to continued collaboration with all of our colleagues working in specialist palliative care across the motu.

In May 2021 the Working Party Group gathered to initiate the mahi to create the guidelines. Group membership comprises medical, nursing and pharmacy professionals and OCH is well represented by Kathryn, Louise and Abby!

The group acknowledges the initial mahi has focused predominantly on physical symptoms and pharmacological interventions. Going forward we hope to collaborate increasingly with a psychosocial multidisciplinary team and broaden the topics covered by the guidelines (e.g., non-pharmacological approaches to pain, spirituality, supporting children etc.). We also hope to do more to capture and guide the empathic and healing parts of our work.

The hundreds of hours of dedication, resourceful and compassion of the group to produce the practical, peer-reviewed documents is sincerely acknowledged. The group is also humbled by the support offered to the mahi when presented at the various national meetings and conferences.

We also appreciate that the work is never truly complete and will be looking to review the guidelines at regular intervals. We are open to feedback on the information available as well as suggestions for expansion in areas of need.

Please log into the HNZ website and register as a member to view the guidelines. The website can be a little tricky to navigate so please ask any of us for help. https://www.hospice.org.nz/

He mihi maioha I tō mahi