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IAHPC Traveling Scholars' Reports
Africa, India and the Philippines
From Africa
Appreciation
Dr. Faith Mwangi-Powell, the Executive Director of the African Palliative Care Association (APCA), based in Kampala, Uganda, attended the 10th Congress of the European Association of Palliative Care (EAPC) in Budapest, Hungary, held on 7-9th June, as the key note speaker. She was sponsored by the International Association for Hospice and Palliative Care (IAHPC). Speaking to Liliana De Lima, IAHPC’s Executive Director, Dr Mwangi-Powell expressed her gratitude, remarking,
‘I feel very humbled by both the IAHPC’s sponsorship to attend the conference and also by my selection to deliver the key note address for the meeting.’
In line with the conference theme, Connecting Diversities to Scale-up Palliative Care, Dr Mwangi-Powell found that the mix of oral and poster presentations rendered the event a real learning experience and a celebration of palliative care diversity globally.
‘The challenge now,’ she added, ‘is to use this knowledge and to connect these diversities so that we can support the scale-up of quality palliative care.’
Dr Mwangi-Powell additionally felt a sense of pride given the size of the African delegation at this essentially European conference, with colleagues representing South Africa, Uganda and Nigeria. APCA presented its research on the APCA African Palliative Outcome Scale and its advocacy work through the innovative and interactive regional drug availability workshops held in eastern and western Africa. Other presentations by APCA included a paper on the impact of palliative care education, and the development of a model of palliative care development in Africa by Dr Julia Downing, APCA’s Deputy Executive Director.
’The conference provided a great opportunity for effective networking and for learning from others working within the field of palliative care. It will also provide organisational insights that will assist the APCA conference to be held in Nairobi, Kenya, in September 2007’, Dr Mwangi-Powell added. ‘For that invaluable opportunity, I owe my, and APCA’s, thanks to the IAHPC.’
Dr. Faith Mwangi-Powell
Executive Director
IAHPC Traveling Scholar’s Report from India
Thanks to an IAHPC Traveling Scholarship that I received, I was able to enroll in the course titled Graduate Certificate in Health (Palliative Care). This certificate is registered under Flinders University, Adelaide, Australia in collaboration with the Asia Pacific Hospice Network (APHN) & the National Cancer Centre, Singapore. It is a distance learning course; students receive course material & assignments by post. The curriculum also includes two, two-week, classroom intensives (May and October) plus a four-week clinical practicum at a palliative care centre.
I am one of twenty students selected from the Asia Pacific region. I have attended the first classroom intensive in Singapore. It was a wonderful experience that was taught by local and Australian faculty members of international standing. The teaching atmosphere was friendly and the guidance given us was useful in order to make our assignments more effective. It was a great pleasure meeting students from other countries and sharing our experiences and cultural variations. Students are able to log on to the Flinders University’s library services. Our teachers taught us how to pinpoint our search key words when using the library system. They have also helped us to learn basic and advanced palliative care, symptom management & communication skills.
The knowledge and confidence acquired during the interactions and assignments has already started to be reflected in my day-to-day work. I was totally unaware of the vast wealth of literature about palliative care research prior to this course. My communication skills have changed and I spend more time listening to patients and families. I find that I now learn more from my clinical interactions than I did before.
The best part of the entire course was our opportunity to “Role –Play” situations which we experience during our clinical practice. This was a great method to learn because our team leaders and team members acted as critics of our performance. The feedback was excellent. I am looking forward to the second classroom intensive and practicum.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT:
I would like to thank IAHPC, all my teachers, and the management of my institute for their support.
Dr Aarti Kaul Patel, MD, DNB
Senior Consultant
Radiation Oncology
In charge Pain &Palliative Care
JAWAHARLAL Nehru Cancer Hospital
Bhopal (M.P) 462001
INDIA
IAHPC Traveling Scholar’s Report from the Philippines
Asia Pacific Hospice Network Diploma in Palliative Care/Graduate Certificate in Health (Palliative Care) Flinders University Experience
Palliative care training in the Philippines started in 2002. The Philippine General Hospital’s Hospice and Palliative care training program has graduated ten palliative care doctors, but sadly only a handful practice what they have learned. Part of the reason is due to a lack of continuing education to sustain their practice. When the Asia Pacific Hospice Network (APHN) and Flinders University offered the Graduate Certificate in Health (Palliative Care), it was an opportunity that I felt I should not miss.
Thanks to a Traveling Scholarship grant from IAHPC, I was able to complete the first classroom intensives held in Singapore. It was difficult, but very productive. Difficult because one has to stay in a foreign land and study for two straight weeks; productive because the curriculum deepens one’s knowledge of palliative care in every way.
I learned a lot of new things, especially about evidence based palliative care. We were taught how to search the Internet to find answers to our questions and those posed by our professors. I was refreshed about the rich history of palliative care and was updated on the new trends and guidelines in symptom management and communication. The course gave me the opportunity to compare the services we provide our patients in the Philippines to that of Australia and Singapore, and through this I was able to discover our strengths and weaknesses. I was also able to learn from my colleagues in neighboring countries in the Asia Pacific. The opportunity to meet and study with leading figures in palliative care also made the event valuable.
Overall, the experience provided me a better understanding of what palliative care is. The new knowledge and the experience that I gained has provided me a greater sense of confidence - confidence not only in the provision of palliative care, but also to try and convince my colleagues at home that palliative care makes a difference.
Andrew E. Ang, MD
Coordinator
Supportive, Palliative and Hospice Care Section
Department of Family and Community Medicine
Philippine General Hospital
Manila, Philippines
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