Misinformation about the recent hantavirus outbreak on a cruise ship.

Palliative care patients frequently experience complex symptoms requiring a variety of pharmacological interventions. Effective symptom management requires understanding of the underlying aetiology and can differ compared to non‐palliative patient populations due to altered pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics. The World Health Organisation's (WHO) ‘WHO Model Lists of Essential Medicines’ address priority medications for a range of patient populations in low‐, middle‐ and high‐income countries. The WHO acknowledges that the choice to categorise medications as ‘essential’ is dependent not only on generalised metrics of each medication itself, such as safety and efficacy, but also on epidemiology, local health needs and affordability, all of which vary between and within countries. To that end, a clinician survey was conducted in 2000 to canvass the views of medical practitioners working in palliative care on the essential medications required for palliative care. In Australia, the study contributed to the establishment of the ‘Palliative Care’ section of the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS), which subsidises the cost of prescription medications for patients. Of note, that study also found significant discrepancies between the perceived and actual level of evidence to inform prescribing. Since then, changes in the evidence base, best practice and medication availability have prompted an update to reflect the current views of Australian and New Zealand (ANZ) palliative care medical practitioners practising palliative care.