Traveling Scholars Program Report
Erika Hernandez Guevara, MD
Travel date: April 11, 2018
Name of Meeting/Event/Activity: IX Congreso Latinoamericano de Cuidados Paliativos de la Asociación Latinoamericana de Cuidados Paliativos (ALCP)
Origin: Tlalpan, Mexico / Destination: Santiago, Chile
Photos
Erika Hernandez Guevara poster presentation How was this meeting/activity helpful to you?
I work in a hospital for people who have many educational, social and economic shortcomings, with late diagnosis of their illness, many times in terminal preventable stages. The need for optimal palliative care is imminent and yet is a labor of very few trained people. Meetings as IX Congreso Latinoamericano de Cuidados Paliativos, let us know how other professionals have solved situations similar to ours and we can share our experience. Also we create professional international network to consult particular cases. I study palliative care in Spain, where the context and resources are very different, so sharing experiences with professionals from other countries similar than Mexico, showed me new scenarios and gave me hope of it’s possible to provide integral palliative care with what we have.
How will you new knowledge & acquired skills help in furthering your work in hospice and palliative care in your program/city/ or country?
The hospital have just hired me, had a Clinic of Pain an Palliative Care but algologist didn’t give an integral attention to the terminal patients, the congress teach me how to manage better the clinic, how to propound the objectives, and specific needs; also in the congress I learned about social marketing focused in health, in order to change thoughts and behavior of patients and other professionals about end-of-life care and early reference. The formal education I had, did not include pediatric palliative care, and it’s fundamental having a general notion, not jus for pediatric patients who should be attended by a pediatrician with proper formation, but for those kids who lives with a relative, adult or kid, who is at the end of the life. The IX Latin-American Congress of Palliative Care had a whole amazing section for children’s attention.
How IAHPC Traveling Scholars Program be improved in order to help other future traveling scholars?
I was in Madrid last year in the 15th world congress of the EAPC, one of my friend was a IAHPC grantee and had many meetings, interviews and activities with other grantees, organized by IAHPC. I’ve would liked to participate in similar activities.