Travel date: April 4, 2019
Name of Meeting/Event/Activity: II International Congress of Palliative Care "Palliative Care and Human Rights: Integrality to Improve the Quality of Life of Patients and Families"
Origin: Sao Carlos, Brazil / Destination: Cali, Colombia
The conference, based on its scientific and practical approach, allowed us to identify and understand how palliative care is developed in Colombia, as understood by professionals, what is their health structure, what policies are based on and what are the prospects for growth in education and acting. Through guided visits such as lectures it was important to identify the different approaches that have been achieved by the various professions, each one, promoting palliative practice from different scenarios and spheres of knowledge. It was motivating to recognize the path traced and to have evidence of the hard work that is managed at a political, cultural, social, personal and collective level. Although there was no participation of occupational therapists, it was significant to hear in the speeches of the speakers ideas, actions that are very connected with the performance of this professional. For my particular case, the congress leaves me a sense of collective integration in the participation and development of palliative care.
The different knowledge will be relevant in professional practice as in training. On the one hand, the whole theoretical base learned in the congress, will largely shape the referential base of my doctoral work, the issues that involve education, as well as the factors of development and cultural implications. Being the first research work in Latin America on palliative care training for students of occupational therapy, it can have a significant impact on the conformation of human resources in palliative care, and will serve as a bridge of expanded conversation within what is recognizes as the hierarchical structure of health care. The integrality addressed in the congress by various professionals affirms the need for training in this area, and not only a theoretical training, but also an education to the sensitivity and suffering of others, to build empathetic and committed professionals. The different conferences provided a vision of the knowledge, skills and attitudes in palliative care that are being promoted to generate professional competencies congruent with social and cultural needs in the world. They are a detailed contextualization of the advances and challenges for the area, which will be relevant conceptual tools for the development of new proposals and affirmations, scientific, cultural and sociopolitical in the area. In the case of Brazil, in 2018 the national policy of palliative care was officially approved to be guaranteed and incorporated into the country's unique health system, there is still a long way to go because there are challenges in relation to the creation of portarias and guidelines, but it is an important advance at a sociopolitical level. Becoming a source of information can be an arduous but beneficial task, expanding the international network of professionals and students interested in the area will be a significant contribution to consolidate in Brazil and Colombia the need to make the academy a powerful scenario for the construction of some solid palliative care. Within the postgraduate program in occupational therapy at the federal university of Sao Carlos and in what appeared to be the Colombian school of occupational therapy, they are supporting and investing so that this approach is known and experienced by the students, and professionals who are already included in the area. Through this network reached with the expansion of contacts such as international associations and participants of the congress, a greater awareness of multi and trandisciplinary participation was generated. It is expected that the next instance will be the generation of ideas designed for efficient teamwork in palliative care, including the occupational therapist. The congress also allowed reaffirming the importance of Occupational Therapy in working with people with life-threatening illnesses, even if there were no speakers, within the speeches of all the participants, words such as life potential, holistic conception of the person, spirituality , desires, recognition of autonomy and dignity, came repeatedly and entered into a deep relationship with the professional competences and integrating vision of occupational therapy. When presenting the poster in the congress, many of the taboos were reformulated by other professionals around that work, since it is considered only with a rehabilitation focus, but the work from the diagnosis to the end of life can be supported as well by the therapist, after the congress the motivation to expand the knowledge and skills of the occupational therapist increased, and the strength of the heart and mind to carry out those initially academic initiatives have already started since the creation of the doctoral project. Just as Liliana de Lima Bohmer has managed to show and present to the world the legacy of humanized care, it is possible to break down professional barriers and manage for equal, equitable and grateful teamwork among professionals.
I consider that the scholarship has all the aspects to be maintained with the conditions that it is. I recognize that English is a universal language, but people from some countries do not have direct access to their training in English, maybe it would be interesting to allow both to fill out the form and to develop the report in a second language or the native language.
The different conferences provided a vision of the knowledge, skills and attitudes in palliative care that are being promoted to generate professional competencies congruent with social and cultural needs in the world. They are a detailed contextualization of the advances and challenges for the area, which will be relevant conceptual tools for the development of new proposals and affirmations, scientific, cultural and sociopolitical in the area. In the case of Brazil, in 2018 the national policy of palliative care was officially approved to be guaranteed and incorporated into the country's unique health system, there is still a long way to go because there are challenges in relation to the creation of portarias and guidelines, but it is an important advance at a sociopolitical level. Becoming a source of information can be an arduous but beneficial task, expanding the international network of professionals and students interested in the area will be a significant contribution to consolidate in Brazil and Colombia the need to make the academy a powerful scenario for the construction of some solid palliative care. The congress also allowed reaffirming the importance of Occupational Therapy in working with people with life-threatening illnesses, even if there were no speakers, within the speeches of all the participants, words such as life potential, holistic conception of the person, spirituality, desires, recognition of autonomy and dignity, came repeatedly and entered into a deep relationship with the professional competences and integrating vision of occupational therapy. Just as Liliana de Lima Bohmer has managed to show and present to the world the legacy of humanized care, it is possible to break down professional barriers and manage for equal, equitable and grateful teamwork among professionals.