A series of free webinars, held once every two months, began in February—but it’s not too late to access that first session. The topic was “The U.S. Cancer Pain Crisis and the Global Pain Divide: Two Wrongs and No Closer to Right.” By registering, you gain access to past and future recordings of the live webinars, including participants taking part in the discussion.
Mark your calendar for the next webinar, “How to Close the Global Pain Divide: Global Essential Medicine Distribution and Access,” being held on Thursday, April 14.
The series is under the banner of the Global Palliative Care and Pain Relief Research Hub, which aims to advance the Lancet Commission on Global Access to Palliative Care and Pain Relief. The organizers of this series are IAHPC Senior Advocacy and Partnerships Director Katherine Pettus, PhD; William Rosa, PhD, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center; and Felicia Knaul, PhD, University of Miami.
The series is intended for those interested in advancing and improving access to palliative care, specifically: multidisciplinary health care providers, palliative care specialists, students and trainees, researchers, patients and their families, and advocates.
The other upcoming webinars in the series are:
All sessions are held on Zoom, begin at 9 a.m. EST, and conclude at 10:30 a.m. Session recordings will be available until December 31, 2022 to all registered participants. CMEs will be offered for each session and a certificate will be available upon completion of a post-session evaluation. Go here for more information, or to register.
The webinars are presented by Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in collaboration with the International Association for Hospice and Palliative Care, Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center (within the University of Miami Health System), and the University of Miami Institute for Advanced Study of the Americas.
“Advocating for the Rights of Older Persons to Palliative Care,” Module 4 of the IAHPC Advocacy Course, will be online by March 11. The video lecture that is part of the module was released on March 3 to coincide with the Age with Rights! Global Rally. You can view on the IAHPC YouTube channel here until May 3.
The course, created by IAHPC Senior Advocacy and Partnerships Director Katherine Pettus, is available free of charge to IAHPC members. Each module consists of a video lecture by Dr. Pettus, a list of resources, and a quiz for those who wish to earn a certificate at completion of the course. Access all modules.
The course so far comprises an open access Introduction and these three modules:
Module 1: Palliative Care Advocacy: The Institutional Landscape
Module 2: Access to Essential Medicines: Normative, Historical & Policy context (Part One)
Module 3: Advocating for Essential Palliative Care Medicines (Part Two)
If you are not a current member, you can easily join or renew your membership. One-year memberships for individuals living in a low-income country costs $20 US. You may also sponsor the membership of a colleague.
The third edition of IAHPC’s Getting Started has been translated into Greek. This publication, written by Dr. Derek Doyle, has proven to be a hugely popular guide on how to begin a new hospice or palliative care service, detailing the process from start to finish.
The Greek version is available to read online in a single document here. The English version is listed online by chapter here.
Translating this publication was no small task. A huge thank-you from the IAHPC to the three translators who tackled the job: Athina Vadalouca, MD, PhD, FIPP, President of the Hellenic Society of Pain Management and Palliative Care; Anastassios Kantianis, PhD, Medical Law and Bioethics-Lawyer; and Martina Rekatsina, MD, MSc, PhD, Neuromodulation and Chronic Pain Clinical Fellow, Mid and South Essex University Hospitals Trust, London, UK.
To learn more about the Hellenic Society of Pain Management and Palliative Care visit the IAHPC Global Directory of Palliative Care Institutions and Organizations.
The deadline is April 30, 2022 to apply for IAHPC scholarships to the 7th Public Health Palliative Care International Conference (PHPCI 2022) taking place September 20-23, 2022, in Bruges, Belgium. Detailed information about the application process as well as the online form are available on the IAHPC website here.
For the 64,707 Pallipedia users throughout February, the top 10 terms visited were:
Aotearoa/Australia/New Zealand
Advance Care Planning International 2022 Webinar Series, “What’s in the pill?” March 22, 2022. First of five webinars in different time zones.
Argentina
Toma de decisiones en Cuidado Paliativo. Virtual course. March 16-April 20, 2022.
Australia
Australian Paediatric Palliative Care Conference: "Listen, Learn, Lead." Virtual. October 13-14, 2022.
Denmark
European Survivorship and Rehabilitation Symposium (ECRS) 2022. In person. September 26-2, 2022, Copenhagen.
Singapore
‘ACP is a Journey not a Destination, How do we travel well?’ Virtual webinar. March 16, 2022.
Spain
"III Curso online de Voluntariado en Cuidados Paliativos." Virtual course. March 7-May 15, 2022.
UK
Principles and Practice of Palliative and End-of-Life Care for Registered Nurses, Nursing Associates and Allied Health Professionals. Virtual course. March 15-17, 2022.
Introduction to Syringe Drivers Workshop. Virtual workshop. March 22, 2022.
One Day Principles and Practice of Palliative and End-of-Life Care for Health and Social Care Assistants. Virtual course. March 23, 2022.
Sensitive conversations at End of Life. Virtual course. March 23-24, 2022.
Access all items in the IAHPC Calendar of Events.
Argentina
Evaluación y Tratamiento del Dolor, Instituto Universitario del Hospital Italiano de Buenos Aires y
GADA, Buenos Aires
India
PG Diploma in Palliative Care, International Institute of Distance Learning, an affiliate of NAPCAIM,
Lucknow
Malaysia
Global Health PhD Fellowship, United Nations University – International Institute for Global Health
(UNU-IIGH), Kuala Lumpur
USA
Hospice and Palliative Medicine Fellowship, University of Illinois College of Medicine
Hospice and Palliative Medicine Fellowship, University of Illinois College of Medicine
Hospice and Palliative Medicine Fellowship, Indiana University School of Medicine
Promote your education and training events in the IAHPC Global Directory of Educational Programs in palliative care. It’s quick and easy—just fill out the Add a new listing page online.
Ghana
Perfect Hands Clinic – Palliative Care Service
India
Thanal Palliative and Paraplegic Care Society
Christian Medical College, Vellore – Palliative Care Unit
Lokmanya Holistic Cancer Care & Research Center – Palliative Care Unit
Pediatric Palliative & Supportive Care Unit – Bai Jerbai Wadia Hospital for Children
Rwanda
African Center for Research on End of Life Care (ACREOL)
USA
Gain visibility by adding your institution, department, or organization that provides palliative or hospice care to the IAHPC Global Directory of Institutions and Organizations. Simply fill out the Add a new listing page online.
Member & other news
Ministry officials, regional health authorities, NGO representatives, and others joined an online meeting on February 1 to discuss urgent palliative care development issues in Kazakhstan. They formed a working group to prepare two roadmaps: one for the development of palliative care for adults, the other for pediatric palliative care.
The roadmaps, aimed at legal and normative improvement and elimination of barriers to inpatient and home-based palliative care, are expected shortly. The roadmaps will also propose expanded access to treatment of pain and other symptoms.
“Minister of Health Azhar Giniyat got acquainted with the situation in detail,” reports Gulnara Kunirova, head of the Kazakhstan Association for Palliative Care, “and focused especially on the need to approve minimum standards for equipping organizations providing palliative care, expanding the minimum list of opioids, increasing Kazakhstan’s opioids procurement, revising clinical protocols, and developing children's palliative care with the participation of local executive bodies.”
One week prior to the meeting, the ministry launched "100 Days–100 Questions,” an initiative encouraging both health care providers and the general public to send their concerns, questions, and suggestions regarding the current state of heath care in the country. More than 800 people responded.
“We sent a letter that pointed out a number of urgent problems,” says Kunirova, who has been named chief external specialist for palliative care by the Ministry of Health. “They include limited access to pain medications, barriers to mobile teams and hospices, lack of training opportunities, low reimbursement for palliative care services, need of pediatric palliative care development, etc.”
Universal health coverage (UHC), a key to advancing palliative care for all, is the theme for World Health Day on Thursday, April 7. The World Health Organization has compiled a web page of information to help people press for change, which you can view here.
Five Palliative Care Works videos, all free of charge, aim to help trainers explain key palliative care issues. Ranging from 10 to 13 minutes, the videos focus on five topics: defining palliative care, patient assessment, pain management and morphine, family conferences at the end of life, and talking with children. Each is accompanied by notes for trainers. Access the videos here.
Palliative Care Works is a UK-based charity supporting education and service development in low- and middle-income countries.
“The Soul of Medicine in the Last Year of Life: Novel Solutions to Palliative Care Access Across Economic and Cultural Divide” is a virtual symposium being held on March 10, 17, and 23.
“Expert speakers and abstract submissions will address the power and limits of health policy, Integration of palliative care into universal health coverage: aspirations and evidence, and changing the culture of public health, biomedicine, and communities. The final day will be focused on identifying novel and feasible solutions across economic and cultural divides,” according to the Global Institute of Psychosocial, Palliative and End-of-Life Care that, along with King's College London, is hosting the event.
Go here to register or for more details.
Recognizing the need for accessible, affordable instruction, the International Children’s Palliative Care Network is developing several short, online courses. As of press time, nine of the courses were available, including:
Sign up for free access. Intended for both health care professionals and laypersons, the courses have both a theoretical and clinical component—but users can choose to do just one or the other. Some or all of the courses are presently available in English, French, Spanish, Czech, Dutch, Mandarin, Portuguese, Russian, Serbian, and Vietnamese.
Go here to view all topics and for more information.
Want to know how much timely palliative care services may improve your hospital’s bottom line? The US Center to Advance Palliative Care has updated its free Impact Calculator. Using just three values (total admissions/discharges, number of palliative care consults, total palliative team in full-time equivalents), the calculator uses US studies and statistics to produce a list of cost and savings estimates.
The Asia Pacific Hospice Palliative Care Network (APHN) has launched Seasons of Life: A Reflective Journey of Beginnings and Finales, a book conceived during the COVID crisis as a way to blend art, mindfulness, and self-care. The paintings, donated by the Singapore Life Art Society, are paired with self-care techniques and mindfulness practices. The book, which costs $37 US, is available in English and Mandarin on the APHN website here.
Few feature-length movies have the importance of palliative care as a key part of the plot. One of them, Al Dio Ignoto (To the Unknown God) has racked up an impressive list of awards and honors since its world premiere in late 2019. It was selected for inclusion in several international film festivals, and was named Best Film on Women in Mumbai, India; won the Signis Prize in Terni, Italy; was awarded Best Feature at the Royal Wolf Awards in Los Angeles, USA; and took home the prizes for Best Direction (Rodolfo Bisatti) and Best Performance (Laura Pellicciari) in Guayaquil, Equador.
The Italian movie, subtitled in English, tells the story of a hospice nurse who loses her daughter to leukemia, and how one of her patients helps her through the tremendous pain loss and to “grasp the meaning of life.” View the trailer. View the entire movie on iNDIEFLIX.
To learn more about the Kazakhstan Association for Palliative Care and the International Children's Palliative Care Network (ICPCN), visit the IAHPC Global Directory of Palliative Care Institutions and Organizations.
Each month, we publish items that may be of interest to our global readership. Contributions are welcomed.
Please also consider promoting your education and training events in the IAHPC Global Directory of Education in Palliative Care. It’s quick and easy — just submit your content online.
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