IAHPC Traveling Scholar's Report

I lack the words to describe the amazing experience I had at The Harvard Medical School Program in Palliative Care Education and Clinical Practice, April 27th to May 4th, 2010. This course provided me with the best learning experience that I’ve ever had. Maybe this is because I live in an ex-communist country where the educational process is not very interactive, more authoritarian and lecture based. No one in my country has had this opportunity. Back home I repeatedly tell my colleagues about what I’ve learned, show them the materials I gathered, and I have started to use some of the teaching techniques I learned during the course.

As a palliative care specialist and nurse trainer, I feel that I have reached the next level in my profession development where I can serve as a role model for my nursing team. The course was intense, and at its end, I told the organizers: “I feel like a thumb drive that doesn’t have any more space on it and needs to be downloaded.”

The first week of the course that I recently completed is only the beginning. It is followed by e-learning case presentations and studies that occur weekly over the next 6 months. In November, I complete the course after I spend a second week at Harvard. I’m very excited to think about what’s next?

 I express my deep gratitude to the IAHPC for making this learning opportunity possible. Without the travel scholarship, this amazing opportunity would still be a dream impossible to be transformed into reality. It is possible that medical professionals from developed countries might think that a grant of $2000 isn’t much, but I am a Romanian and it represents my entire income for 4 months of work - therefore it is a huge amount to me.

Nicoleta Mitrea, Director of Nursing and Nursing Education Coordinator for the Palliative Care Nursing Education in Romania and in the Region
Hospice Casa Sperantei, Brasov, Romania