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IAHPC Traveling Fellow's Report
Prepared by
Anabelle de Guzman, MD
Chairman, Department of Family and Community Medicine,
Western Visayas Medical Center
Active Medical Staff, Iloilo Mission Hospital
Ilolo, Philippines
I was given the opportunity through an IAHPC Traveling Fellowship to be a clinical visitor in the Department of Palliative and Rehabilitative Medicine at the MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston (April 30 - May 1, 2007).
The hospital visit was very helpful to me because it made me aware of the clinical practice of hospice and palliative care in a leading cancer center such as MD Anderson. Although our setting in the Philippines, could never mimic, or equal,
the setting I observed in Houston, at least I now have a standard of practice to which we can compare our delivery pf hospice and palliative care.
We not only need to be excellent in our medical care in the hospice and palliative care setting, but we also need to be active in research and evidence based medicine. We also must develop practice guidelines that conform to very high standards.
In our country, many medicines that could greatly alleviate the suffering of our patients are not available. I hope that I can network with drug manufacturers to provide these to my countrymen. I also realized that we need to train more practioners
in order to give the best care to our terminally ill cancer patients. I hope to establish a link between MD Anderson Cancer Center and our organization so that we can send Filipino doctors for training, and in the future develop our own fellowship program in the Philippines.
My visit was one of the highlights of my career in palliative medicine because I now have observed, in an ideal setting, a standard that we will endeavor to emulate in the near future. Although we are a developing country, the setting in MD
Anderson Center was very modern, sophisticated in terms of technology and very advanced, I hope and pray that someday we can offer the same kind of care to our patients; that is, care that is not only medically advanced, supported by research and evidence based, but also humane,
relevant and holistic.
I would like to thank the IAHPC for granting me this wonderful opportunity to visit MD Anderson Cancer Center. We will also try to make our beginning hospice and palliative care practice in our country medically advanced, humane and holistic.
Anabelle de Guzman, MD
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