Grantee details

Traveling Scholars Program Report

Marcela  Gonzalez Otaiza, MD

Travel date: May 18, 2017

Name of Meeting/Event/Activity: 15th European Association Palliative Care Conference

Origin: Santiago, Chile / Destination: Madrid, Spain


How was this meeting/activity helpful to you?

Due to the great variety of topics presented at the Congress, there were many of great interest for me in terms of updates on care practice as well as on strategies for innovation in management issues. It was also very interesting to share with other professionals from different countries and to know their realities, and finally, thanks to this Congress, I am very motivated to collaborate in the coordination of the next Congress of the Association Latinoamericana of Palliative Care , that will be in my country and I hope it will be as good as this .

How will you new knowledge & acquired skills help in furthering your work in hospice and palliative care in your program/city/ or country?

In the short term, I will replicate, in my work the most relevant topics seen

How IAHPC Traveling Scholars Program be improved in order to help other future traveling scholars?

I think it would be important to promote the dissemination of scholarships through the public and private organizations of each country and ourselves,( who have been favored ), so that more professionals can apply, especially those in more remote areas. Get a record of the units of palliative care and their professionals from each country with their mails (including those who are not members of the IAHPC)

Narrative summary highlighting the needs and challanges you face

The main challenges of Palliative Care in Chile are Lack of coverage for non-oncological diseases: The majority of the Units are dedicated only to the care of patients with cancer. Undergraduate and postgraduate training is scarce.There isn´t specialization in Chile.Some Units haven’t professionals trained in palliative care. Care Overload, Many Units, like where I work, we have more than 1000 patients per year. Research and scientific publications are limited. In addition to the updates in the field of clinical practice, the main contribution received from the Congress is the motivation to continue enhancing the development of palliative care in my country, especially in areas that are insufficient such as training and research. To create alliances among the different national and international agencies (public and private hospitals, universities, ministry, scientific societies, foundations, etc) That will allow us to overcome our barriers. Knowing professionals from other parts of the world, of so much human and professional quality, was still more inspiring and I hope to transmit this feeling to my co-workers. I would like to thank the IAHPC for this great opportunity.


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