Travel date: April 14, 2016
Name of Meeting/Event/Activity: VIII Latin American Congress on Palliative Care
Origin: Santiago, Chile / Destination: Mexico City, Mexico
The congress was very helpful, giving me the possibility to know palliative care teams from other countries, share experiences, review important issues and have the opportunity to speak with internationals experts.
The new skills and knowledge acquired in Congress will allow me to improve the daily care of my patients and their families, because I could update my knowledge about treatments and new therapies for a better control of their symptoms. The education workshop was very useful, given the general recommendations for palliative care courses in undergraduate. We are currently working on creating a course for medical students in our university. Conferences on teamwork and the importance of extending palliative care to different contexts, allowed me to recognize the importance of creating networks and share experiences with other teams. We are currently working on creating a network of exchange places for palliative care professionals in Latin America, and in the Hospice we are organizing a day of encounter between different work teams of Chile. Developing the topic of spirituality in the round table and share with international experts allowed me to better understand this area, for example how to evaluate the symptoms and the different interventions. In Chile, the development of spirituality in palliative care is poor and new, so my experience in the congress will improve my team\'s ability to detect and intervene in the spiritual suffering of patients and families, and teach it to students.
The application process is very clear and fast, also sending money. At the congress, the IAHPC staffs were very nice too. An idea for improve could be that IAHPC will send a list with congresses or events every year and say if this event have option to apply for scholarships. By this way the professionals could plan ahead the trip and could apply to other supplementary funds too. Other idea is if the IAHPC could give other web sites or organization`s names for scholarships.