IAHPC asks recipients of its Traveling Scholarship grants to report on the events they attend. Dr. Maria Isabel Cuervo Suarez reports on the 22nd International Congress on Palliative Care (PAL 2018), and Dr. Victorina Ludovick reports on EAPC’s World Research Congress.
Dr. Maria Isabel Cuervo Suarez, Cali, Colombia
The 22nd International Congress on Palliative Care, held in Canada, began for me with a session on pain management, where I learned useful information about non-pharmacological interventions validated with scientific evidence. I also met Dr. Eduardo Bruera, a global leader in the field, who has guided much of the current patient care provided in Colombia.
At a research forum, I learned much more about involving patients in the decision-making process at the end of life, including the four stages of decision-making in continuous sedation. I attended three sessions on proffered papers. The first was on cancer care; as a family doctor this review of papers on prognosis, the role of the physician, and intrathecal therapy in advanced cancer helped me to know how, as primary care providers, we can impact the quality of life of patients with advanced disease. The second was on pain and symptom control, where I learned more about methadone: how to title it, the more frequent adverse effects and how to handle them. The third was on heart failure, which was important because this year our team met with the adult cardiology group to carry out a protocol for the deactivation of cardiovascular devices in patients with advanced disease.
In the clinic where I work I am also part of the pediatric care team; at two workshops on pediatric palliative care, I learned techniques for managing families’ grief. I also met other professionals working in different countries and we were able to discover how each of us works in a team. At a session on proffered papers about palliative care for young adults, I acquired keys to improve communication so that we can meet patient needs. I presented two posters on pediatric palliative care at the poster session, where many attendees expressed interest in my findings; it was an excellent opportunity to share experiences and exchange knowledge.
To close the congress there was with a magnificent conference on compassion and caring. Presenters showed how home palliative care is performed in a low-income country, and shared photos of places of families that had a family member with advanced illness; while listening to the experiences described, it moved me to feel love and compassion for those who suffer and for those places that do not have resources for palliative care. My country is one of them; where I work we strive to provide help to those who need it and to provide guidance to doctors who work far away from the city to ensure that the rural population can also access palliative care.
Thank you for this opportunity. What I learned is of great value for our hospital in Colombia, and helped both my professional and team practices.
Posters presented: ‘Frequency and Clinical Characteristics Associated to Pediatric Deaths in a Tertiary Hospital in Developing Country. Opportunities for Pediatric Palliative Care’; and ‘Integration of Pediatric Palliative Care in Children with Cancer: A Systematic Review.’
Dr. Victorina Ludovick, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
Tanzania is currently promoting palliative care services in collaboration with partners. Some training sessions have been conducted by the Ministry of Health, especially for home-based care services; however, more training of health care workers in various health facilities has been recommended.
I learned how important palliative care is as part of end-of-life services, and that knowledge made me so proud to be a participant of the European Association for Palliative Care World Research Congress, held in Switzerland. I also learned about modern technologies, skills, and research being done in various countries to improve palliative care and end-of-life care.
More specifically, I appreciated information on the nursing skills of those who work in European countries, and their practices for taking care of the families of dying patients.
Together with my colleagues from Tanzania, we are planning to strengthen the country’s palliative care association by organizing palliative care training for medical personnel, for example. Personally, I am very involved in the establishment of community awareness camps as well as clinics in collaboration with CCP Medicine, one of our mainly community nongovernment organizations in Ilala Dar es Salaam.
Thank you for the opportunity to attend this congress; I am looking forward to sharing more about palliative services in my country at future conferences.
To find out more about IAHPC’s Program Support Grants, and our Traveling Scholarships and Traveling Fellowships, please visit our website. Through these programs we support projects and individuals around the world, especially in developing countries in Africa, Eastern Europe, Asia, and Latin America.
You can contribute to this program and help palliative care workers attend and participate in congresses and courses by donating to the Traveling Scholarships Campaign in the Global Giving website.
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