Volume 24, Number 10: October 2023

Photo by Christina Vazou, of Greece, submitted to the 2021 IAHPC Photo Contest. Used with permission.

An IAHPC Series on Caregiving for Our Compassionate Community

To celebrate this year’s World Day theme of "Compassionate Communities: Together for Palliative Care” on October 14, and to mark the first UN International Day of Care and Support on October 29, IAHPC is launching a series on Caregiving in Palliative Care.

A webinar in November will kick off the series, followed by courses on caregiving in palliative care. Members with a caregiving experience that is also a learning opportunity are invited to apply to become a panelist. A formal presentation with slides is not required. The criteria to apply are:

• Be a current IAHPC member. If you know someone who might wish to apply but is not a member, please encourage them to join or renew.
• Be working as a palliative care provider and/or was recently—or is currently—an informal caregiver for a person receiving palliative care.
• Be able discuss the issue in English.

The application asks you to describe challenges you face as palliative care professional or caregiver, and strategies you may have implemented to overcome these challenges. The deadline to apply is October 13. An IAHPC panel will evaluate the submissions: members from low- and middle-income countries are encouraged to apply.

This is a wonderful opportunity to tell your story to colleagues around the world!

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Project Update: Best Practices Manual

The Starting Point: Widely varied guidelines and opinions

"Opinions differ, sometimes greatly," which is why developing a Best Practices Manual on the use of essential medicines for pain relief and palliative care is necessary, says International Association of Hospice and Palliative Care (IAHPC) Executive Director Liliana De Lima. It is also the reason why the current, initial stage is both intensive and crucially important. 

The Best Practices Manual is one component of an agreement of work between the World Health Organization (WHO) and IAHPC as a nongovernmental organization in official relations with the WHO. The manual will be based on two lists of medications: medicines for common symptoms in palliative care in the WHO's Model List of Essential Medicines (section 2), and those in the Lancet Essential Package.

Each medicine's component assessed

To begin, IAHPC has cast a wide net, culling more than 20 guidelines and assessing every component for each medication and its use in the management of the most common and distressing symptoms in palliative care: starting dose, frequency, how and when to increase or decrease the dosage, and maximum daily dose. 

“For some symptoms, we found there was consensus among the guidelines on the use of certain medications, but this was true for only a few," says De Lima. "Recommendations on the starting dose, frequency, and maximum daily dose are nonexistent, or all over the map.

Why experts differ

"Designing and implementing randomized controlled trials in palliative care is extremely challenging, many times impossible, if not ethically immoral," she adds. "This is why, across the globe, palliative care experts have developed their own personal treatment protocols, based on their knowledge and professional experience. The use of medicines in palliative care is mostly 'off label,' which means that they are used outside of the recommendations provided by the manufacturer and for which they were approved by regulatory bodies.

"This is quite common, as physicians are trained to assess and evaluate based on the patients’ response. However, it would be extremely useful to have some consensus among experts, which is what we are hoping to achieve with this project.”

The next step: an invitation to participate

Members of the working committee have finalized the initial analysis. The next step is inviting IAHPC members from around the world to provide their opinion on the different medications and recommended dosages, frequency, etc. If you are a physician or a pharmacist, keep your eyes open for an email inviting you to participate in this exciting project. Members who accept this invitation will receive a three-month extension of their membership.

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A Beautiful Mistake

IAHPC has received two unexpected donations from members who mistakenly sent their membership renewal payment twice. When contacted about the error, the members told IAHPC to keep the extra payment and use it to support the membership of people from low-income countries.

Thanks to members David Schifeling (USA) and Sinead Donnelly (New Zealand), IAHPC was able to give one-year memberships to 19 individuals and one hospice in Kenya, all of whom were members in the recent past but cited lack of funds when they did not renew.

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Final Call for 2023 Photo Contest

Don't delay! Now is the time to submit your snaps to the IAHPC 2023 Photo Contest. The deadline to submit your photos is October 31, 2023. 

Not only can you win a cash prize and membership extension, your photos could gain a global audience. They may be used to illustrate the IAHPC newsletter, website, social media posts, and other publications. 

1st place: a 2-year membership extension and US $300
2nd place: a 1-year membership extension and US $200
3rd place: a 6-month membership extension and US $100

Images should depict clinical practice, teaching, caregiving, daily life, or other settings that support advocacy, education, research, or the dissemination of information (IAHPC's four areas of work).

Submit your photos using our media release form and, if children can be identified, the release form for minors. Begin with the words "Photo Contest,” and be sure to include a description for each image.

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Tidbits

Pediatric Basics in Humanitarian Settings: An e-course

The first modules of a new e-course, Children’s Palliative Care in Humanitarian Settings, are online. The intention is to teach health care workers, many of whom face crisis situations with no palliative care training, the basic principles of children's palliative care. The course will consist of four modules covering end-of-life care, pain and symptom management, and communication and family-centered care.

The course is a collaboration between the International Children's Palliative Care Network and PallCHASE (Palliative Care in Humanitarian Aid Situations and Emergencies).

Choose Your Track at the Kenya Conference

Registration is open for the 6th Kenya National Palliative Care Conference—the first held since 2018. The conference takes place in Kisumu from November 15-17, 2023. The theme is "Palliative Care through the Inclusivity Lens" and the conference has two tracks: equitable access to palliative care through inclusivity, and equitable and inclusive health care systems for palliative care integration. The focus is on "highlighting best practices and sharing lessons on enhancing equity and inclusivity of palliative care provision and advancement" in a time of increasing need.

The Sunflower: A new pediatric podcast

The first five episodes of The Sunflower, a pediatric podcast produced by the Canadian nonprofit Two Worlds Cancer Collaboration, are now on Spotify. The episodes include: Finding Beauty and Joy in Children’s Palliative Care; How To Introduce Palliative Care To Families; Breath In and Out: Bring respirology and palliative care together; and Grief: Myths and Facts.

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What’s New in the Calendar

New listings

Access all items in the IAHPC Calendar of Events.

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