Speak Out August 2021

team shows that Australian allied health professionals (including speech pathologists) have knowledge gaps about the law in this area. 2 Encouragingly, they also believe the law has a place in clinical practice and decision-making and want to learn more about it. Relevant continuing professional development was positively associated with legal knowledge, highlighting the importance of education and training initiatives. End of Life Law for Clinicians (ELLC) 3 is a free national training program that supports speech pathologists and other clinicians who want to know more about end of life law in Australia. It is funded by the Australian Department of Health and developed by the Australian Centre for Health Law Research and Faculty of Health at the Queensland University of Technology. ELLC addresses the legal issues that are relevant to end of life decision- making. This includes decisions that happen in the "last days and months of life". But importantly, it also includes the planning and decision-making that happens well before this, including before a person has an illness or injury. ELLC comprises 11 online training modules and national workshops and is complimented by the End of Life Law in Australia website, 8 a resource developed for health professionals and the broader community to find out more on end of life law.9 In August 2021 ELLC launched new content for speech pathologists and other allied health professionals, including tailored case studies and vignettes. This new content has been developed with input from speech pathologists (including a project team member and

external clinicians) and Speech Pathology Australia. Recommended modules for speech pathologists explore capacity and consent to medical treatment; withholding and withdrawing life-sustaining treatment; advance care planning and advance care directives; substitute decision- making for medical treatment; children and end of life decision-making; futile or non-beneficial treatment; and managing conflict. The ELLC training can help speech pathologists to better support others (patients, their families/support networks, or colleagues) when legal issues arise, facilitate supported decision-making, and prevent, manage and resolve conflict between patients, families/support networks or health professionals about end of life treatment and care. Knowledge gained from this training can also help speech pathologists manage legal risk and enhance their confidence in delivering care that is lawful. We invite speech pathologists and speech pathology students to undertake the ELLC training program. We hope they find it useful in enhancing their legal knowledge and supporting their patients (and patient’s families) with end of life decisions. Certificates of completion are available. To register for the training visit the End of Life Law for Clinicians Training Portal. 3 For further information or to contact the ELLC team email endoflifelaw@qut.edu.au . Authors Dr Rachel Feeney CPSP: Senior Research Assistant, End of Life Law for Clinicians, Australian Centre for Health Law Research, Faculty of Business and Law, Queensland University of Technology Ms Penny Neller: Project Coordinator, National Palliative Care Projects, Australian Centre for Health Law Research, Faculty of Business and Law, Queensland University of Technology Prof Ben White: Professor of End-of-Life Law and Regulation, Australian Centre for Health Law Research, Faculty of Business and Law, Queensland University of Technology Prof Lindy Willmott: Professor of Law, Australian Centre for Health Law Research, Faculty of Business and Law, Queensland University of Technology Distinguished Prof Patsy Yates AM: Executive Dean, Faculty of Health and Director, Centre for Healthcare Transformation, Queensland University of Technology A/Prof Shih-Ning Then: Associate Professor, Australian Centre for Health Law Research, Faculty of Business and Law, Queensland University of Technology

32

Speak Out | August 2021