On Tuesday 18th February, members of PCNSW attended an online Member Circle on Identifying Cultural & Spiritual Needs That Inform End-Of-Life Care. The session was led by Nepean Blue Mountains Local Health District, with presenters Una Turalic (Senior Cross Cultural Development Officer), Emma Dixon (Nurse Educator), and David Gillett (Senior Aboriginal Health Worker).
Una, Emma and David discussed the importance of identifying cultural and spiritual needs in end-of-life care, particularly for culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) communities. They shared their experiences providing high quality and person-centred palliative care for patients and carers from CALD, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and LGBTQI+ communities.
They highlighted the importance of building trust and strong connections with members from these communities, as well as maintaining awareness of verbal and non-verbal cues from patients and carers. They also stressed the need for clinicians to ask open-ended questions, listen to patients’ perspectives, and provide clear explanations about treatments. Each patient will have their own unique cultural and spiritual needs, so clinicians are encouraged to find out what is important to patients at end-of-life to ensure a good death.
A Q&A session followed the presentation, allowing members to ask questions and share their own experiences with CALD communities. PCNSW would like to thank Una, Emma and David for presenting and sharing such important information with members of the professional network.
This Member Circle was held as part of PCNSW’s Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) Communities & Palliative Care Professional Network, which is open to all members of PCNSW. The professional network meets online quarterly to engage in peer-to-peer discussions and consultation regarding culturally appropriate care.
To join the professional network, members of PCNSW can sign up here: www.surveymonkey.com/r/DBDRM69
The next Member Circle will be held in May 2025 (date TBA).
Please contact Emma at office@palliativecarensw.org.au if you have any questions.