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Helping you to provide the best palliative care for your veterinary patients.
As a veterinary professional, you want to provide the best palliative care for your patients, but this can also be an emotional and challenging time for you and your clients. This is why the Australian Veterinary Palliative Care Advisory Council is such an amazing resource and support. Chair and grief expert, Rosie Overfield and palliative care expert and one of the founders, Dr Jackie Campbell answered some questions about the AVPCAC, their aims and future goals…..
What is the Australian Veterinary Palliative Care Advisory Council (AVPCAC) all about?
The Australian Veterinary Palliative Care Advisory Council brings together a group of passionate specialists and industry experts, committed to sharing their knowledge and supporting the advancement of palliative care skills within veterinary medicine.
Palliative care refers to the ideals of ensuring patient comfort, proving access to end-stage health care, and supporting pet caregivers through difficult end-of-life decision-making. When curative treatment is not always possible or considered in the pet’s best interests, palliative care provides a formal framework for comfort-focused care.
The AVPCAC endeavours to provide up-to-date information, resources, and education events that can support the veterinary profession to respond to the growing demand from pet caregivers for palliative care services.
When did it start and who is involved?
The AVPCAC was formed in 2017, with ground-up support from a number of current Council members. In line with human models of palliative care, we have a multidisciplinary cohort that includes Rosie Overfield as Chair (Counselling and Grief Communication Expert), Dr. Jackie Campbell (Palliative Care), Dr. Anne Fawcett (Animal Welfare), Dr. Kathleen O’Connell (Oncology), Brooke Williams (Physiotherapy) and Cat Walker (Legals and Veterinary Nursing). The Council is additionally supported by a number of incredible advisors including Dr. Kathy Cooney (Hospice & Euthanasia), Dr. Heather Chee (Veterinary Behaviour), Dr. Cheryl Braswell (Critical & Emergency Care), and Dr. Vivian Song (Pharmacology).
What are the aims of the AVPCAC?
The aims of the AVPCAC are to harness expertise from a range of specialities across veterinary and allied health fields, develop and support the best end-of-life practices within veterinary medicine to improve patient outcomes and be a source of practical advice for veterinary professionals looking to increase their clinical and communication skills in this area. Similarly, the AVPCAC also endeavours to openly encourage conversations about death and bereavement within the veterinary and animal health field.
Can anyone join?
Membership is free and currently available to practising veterinarians with an interest in palliative care. Whilst the platform was originally created to provide resources primarily to veterinarians, we are recognising the incredible desire that veterinary nurses, technicians and reception teams also have for this information, and will be working to expand access to anyone in the veterinary industry, as well as those who work in related allied health fields including veterinary social work and counselling, over the coming months.
What sort of resources are available?
Each member has access to the AVPCAC portal which includes articles, clinical tips and information from The AVPCACs virtual and conference events.
How can the AVPCAC make the lives of those working in veterinary practices easier? For vets? For nurses?
We think every pet owner wants their pet to have a ‘good death’, and every veterinary professional wants that for their patients too. However, end-of-life conversations and care decisions can be daunting without the appropriate training and support. Palliative care can actually be a hugely rewarding customer service offering. The AVPCAC has education packages to help practices set up a palliative care service including reception policies, best-practice euthanasia techniques, grief, and bond-centred communication training. We also provide low-cost education events such as our Virtual Conference on 12 November 2022 – this is open to anyone in practice with a special stream just for nurses and paraprofessionals.
What does the future hold for AVPCAC?
Veterinary Palliative Care is being talked about more and more. The AVPCAC wants to remain the leading industry voice in this space. We’re excited to expand our online portal to offer even more resources to the veterinary industry. We will also continue to grow our virtual and in-person conference events. Our next event, our Virtual Conference is on Saturday 12 November 2022, and we welcome registrations.
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