electronic medical record

Background: As part of a broader study to improve the capacity for advance care planning (ACP) in primary healthcare settings, the research team set out to develop and validate a computerized algorithm to help primary care physicians identify individuals at risk of death, and also carried out focus groups and interviews with relevant stakeholder groups.

The Carer Support Unit of the Central Coast Local Health District (New South Wales, Australia) is working with the District's inpatient cancer services to improve the identification of caring relationships for cancer inpatients. The first stage of the project was to do a literature review and environmental scan to assess the extent of the issue. We found significant barriers to carer identification, including: carer self-identification issues; definitional issues around the label 'carer'; system and process issues; and health workforce issues.