I would like to thank the IAHPC for providing me the opportunity to attend the compulsory residential teaching session for MSc in palliative medicine at Cardiff, UK.
The MSc in Palliative Medicine is awarded after completion of a dissertation based on an original research project in the field of palliative medicine plus residential training on “How to conduct a scientific research.”
Going to Cardiff and meeting our mentors and teachers and the 17 participants from various countries was a great experience.
During our first day we were introduced to each other and had a brief introduction to the course by the course coordinator and a discussionon how to conduct palliative research.
In the latter half of the day, we were divided into 4 groups and each group was assigned a mentor. In this group we all discussed our research topics/ ideas and whether our topics were feasible to conduct in our home setting. This was a great opportunity to come up with new ideas for a dissertation, rectify/resolve doubts and refine our goals.
On the second day we were taught about qualitative research: how to conduct it and how to collect data. This was an enriching experience as I had a limited understanding about a qualitative study before going to Cardiff. In the latter half of the day, we learned about clinical trial designs and how to conduct systematic reviews
On the third day we were introduced to statistics, measurement scales and how to design a questionnaire.
During the fourth day we had lectures on health economics, research ethics, informed consent and how to do a literature search. All these topics were very interesting and important and I learned a lot about informed consent and research ethics which are integral parts of conducting a study. I also learned new ways of doing literature searches which will help me in the future.
On our last day we again were divided into small groups where we refined our topics for the dissertation, and ask questions. This was a memorable experience and a great time to meet friends and make new ones.
Once again I would like to thank the International Association for Hospice and Palliative Care (IAHPC), Liliana De Lima, Ana M Restrepo, Lino Roza and their wonderful team for providing me a traveling scholarship.
Dr Sanjay Dhiraaj, MD (Anaesthesiology)
Additional Professor, Department of Anaesthesiology
Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Lucknow, India.
Email: [email protected] and [email protected]
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