Traveling Scholars Program Report
Duong Le Dai, DR
Travel date: October 17, 2022
Name of Meeting/Event/Activity: World Cancer Congress 2022
Origin: Ho Chi MInh City, Vietnam / Destination: Geneva, Switzerland
Photos
How was this meeting/activity helpful to you?
The scholarship provided me the opportunity to attend the 2022 World Cancer Congress. I have the chance to meet with other scholars and leaders from around the world. Although it is focused on cancer, palliative care is still a main focus of the conference. I attended a session on the integration of palliative care to cancer care. In this session, I have seen the efforts and commitments of ASCO and ESMO in the integration and provision of palliative care for cancer patients. They also provided toolkits and resources for practice of palliative care. There are also chances for oncologist to learn palliative care from excellence centers by the traveling scholarship offered by these associations. I have the chance to share the work of my team at the University of Medicine and Pharmacy at Ho Chi Minh City is doing on palliative care education as three levels recommended by WHO. We shared and exchanged experience in developing and sustaining the program from other countries in South America and Africa. We saw the common barriers and learnt how each country overcame these barriers. We found that we are not alone in this journey of sharpening young minds to care for human suffering. There are efforts everywhere to do the same thing as we are doing. They have their struggles and we also have our own but together we could collaborate and overcome these barriers. I have the chance to network with other scholars who are interested in conducting research in palliative care in Vietnam.
How will you new knowledge & acquired skills help in furthering your work in hospice and palliative care in your program/city/ or country?
What I learnt from other countries in palliative care education is that besides changing curriculum and teaching palliative care, we have to highlight the gap in knowledge and practice especially in end of life care. We need to conduct a regional or national survey of healthcare workers and healthcare students to assess their competency and readiness in assessing symptoms as pain, dyspnea ... in communication ... Then, these evidence could be used to advocate for changes in terms of palliative care education among healthcare institutions in Vietnam.
How IAHPC Traveling Scholars Program be improved in order to help other future traveling scholars?
I find that the support from the management team at IAHPC is very helpful and valuable. I am grateful for this opportunity.