Travel date: July 27, 2017
Name of Meeting/Event/Activity: Asia Pacific Hospice Conference
Origin: Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania / Destination: Suntec City, Singapore
First of all, I would like to take this opportunity to thank IAHPC for travelling scholarship that enabled me attend the 12th Asia Pacific Hospice Conference, Singapore which took place on 26th-29th July, 2017.This has increased my knowledge on palliative care and how to take care of terminally ill patients in both hospitals and hospice houses. This knowledge will help me to deliver quality management to my patients at ocean road cancer institute despite the limited resources we are having.
This knowledge will strongly help me to educate other staff on how to take care of terminally ill patients even those who are at home.Since we have daily continuous medical education. For my country, I will help to educate workers at remote areas where they have no access to new information on how to take care of terminally ill patients and also I will try to convince the government so that we will have more sessions about palliative care in the level of government. Lastly I will always thank AIHPC for your continuous support especially for third world countries.
IAHPC travelling scholarship should try to provide more awareness so that many people could benefit from your good work.
CHALLENGES: In my country Tanzania, most of our patients come in very late stage and terminally ill, hence does not balance with the number of docters and other staff who can give palliative care. Poor education on palliative care for most staff workers. Most patients are in remote areas hence the care takers don’t have funds to have outreach programs for them so that they can provide palliative. In my country we don’t have hospice houses. HOW TO OVERCOME: From the conference I have learnt that hospice centers which will help to put old and terminally ill patients so that they can be treated there. I also learned that it is not that much expensive to take care patients and old people in hospice centers since only keeping them clean, changing pillows, having colorful house and so on can help them to feel good and cared. Also I learned pain is the most thing which terminally ill patients have hence above all make your patient confortable. Provide palliative care to staff workers since most of the patients don’t have that knowledge.