Announcements
First Palliative Care Dept for Cancer Patients in South of Vietnam opens
A new palliative care department in the Ho Chi Minh (HCM) City Cancer Hospital opened January 6, 2011, a first in South Vietnam.
The hospital currently manages 3,000 patients with end-stage cancer, but is limited in its ability to care for the number of patients who require palliative care. The new department will expand from 12 to 30 beds in 2011. The staff also cares for outpatients, and is planning a home-based program.
The Pain & Policy Studies Group trains fellows from Jamaica and provides support in country
In mid-November 2010, Dr. Jim Cleary, Director of the Pain & Policy Studies Group (PPSG), was a speaker at a Jamaica Ministry of Health (MoH)-sponsored National Workshop with government policy makers, physicians, pharmacists and nurses, which was spearheaded by Dr. Dingle Spence and Mrs. Verna Walker-Edwards, both members of the PPSG’s International Pain Policy Fellowship (IPPF). Dr. Spence is a Palliative Care Oncologist at the Hope Institute Hospital and Mrs. Edwards is Chief Dangerous Drugs Inspector with the Ministry of Health.
The Workshop included nearly 50 key stakeholders and Dr. Cleary was the keynote speaker, providing information on the IPPF program, a global perspective on pain management, and highlighted the under-utilization of morphine in the world and Jamaica. The Jamaican fellows also presented the work of their fellowships and the objectives they hoped to achieve, which includes improving the availability of opioids in their country and creating awareness about the need for a pain and palliative care policy.
Dr. Cleary also met with the MoH's Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Sheila Campbell Forrester, under whose responsibility the Office of Dangerous Drugs falls and who is supporting the objectives of the Jamaican fellows to reinforce the importance of the IPPF and the necessity of the MoH’s support for Dr. Spence and Mrs. Walker-Edwards. In a MoH-issued press release (attached), Dr. Campbell Forrester states, “Pain management and palliative care must address patient and family discomfort and restore persons to their productivity level. It is important that we understand new methods of pain management and prevent misuse. Opioids are important and effective and we have to examine the policies and legal framework surrounding their use as we may need to adjust them to allow us greater flexibility and protect the health worker.”
Interviews with the fellows and Dr. Cleary were recorded at Hope Institute Hospital and recently aired on Jamaica's major television station, TVJ. A link to the 4-minute video clip is available at: http://www.televisionjamaica.com/vd-1379-HEALTHREPORT-MORPHINE.aspx
Pharmacy resources and practices for treating pediatric patients – a survey
Dear Colleagues,
ChildKind International ( www.childkindinternational.org ) is an initiative aimed at improving the management of acute and chronic pain in pediatric patients in institutions worldwide. A key to optimal pain management in children is ensuring institutions have access to medications that are necessary to safely and effectively manage pain.
A survey has been developed by the International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP; www.fip.org ), in collaboration with ChildKind International, to obtain a 'snapshot' of current pharmacy resources and practices used to treat pediatric patients (18 years of age or younger). This is being done to identify barriers to optimal pain management in institutions throughout the world.
I would like to invite all interested parties (pharmacists, pediatricians...) to fill-in this 20-minute survey at: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/QTPCHCB
ChildKind International will be happy to share the summary of the results of this survey with the respondents of this survey.
Best regards
Luc BESANÇON
Project Manager
International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP)
PO Box 84200
2508 AE The Hague
The Netherlands
Tel: +31 70 302 1988
Fax: +31 70 302 1999
Email: [email protected]
Human Rights Watch needs your help for a report about global access to palliative care!
For 18 months, the Health and Human Rights Division at Human Rights Watch has been collecting information about access to pain treatment and palliative care in 41 countries around the globe. If you have knowledge of any of these countries, we would very much appreciate your help to check, clarify, or add to, our information before it is published.
To see the collected data and make comments on it, go to this website: http://thinkweb.dreamhosters.com/global-survey/user
As we will publish our report soon, we would ideally like your comments by February 15.
The countries surveyed are: Argentina, Bangladesh, Brazil, Cambodia, Cameroon, China, Colombia, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Ethiopia, France, Georgia, Germany, Guatemala, India, Indonesia, Iran, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Korea, Mexico, Morocco, Nepal, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Poland, Romania, Russia, South Africa, Tanzania, Thailand, Turkey, Uganda, Ukraine, UK, USA, Vietnam.
For more information on Human Rights Watch's work on access to palliative care globally at: http://www.hrw.org/en/node/86033
From the National Health Service’s Database – Supportive and Palliative Care
Dear all,
Each month there is a wide range of new items added to the NHS Evidence specialist collection on supportive and palliative care. From last month’s list of entries, Dr Jason Boland has selected those which may be of particular interest (see below).
Users who cannot easily access the web links below from their email software should access the full list via the link near the top of the home page: http://www.library.nhs.uk/palliative/ or See the full lists of new records added each month
Best wishes,
Richard Stevens, Project Manager, NHS Evidence - supportive and palliative care
Jan 2011 Bulletin
Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects (DARE)
Health Technology Assessments (HTA)
Some of the items added to the 'Evidence in the News' RSS feed last month
Full lists of items added to the collection each month
Dr Richard Stevens,
Research Associate, University of Sheffield, Academic Unit of Supportive Care,
Sykes House, Little Common Lane, Sheffield, South Yorkshire, S11 9NE, UK
Telephone: 0114 262 0174
Email: [email protected]
www.shef.ac.uk/medicine/oncology/staffprofiles/stevens.html
A Music Care Blog initiated by Room 217 Foundation
Since 2005, the music of Room 217 has been a peaceful presence in the lives of thousands of people. While palliative care is at the heart of Room 217, the Room 217 resources have been embraced as comprehensive therapeutic music resources that reach across the live span and offer relaxation, encouragement, sleep promotion, comfort and support in a broad range of circumstances and rooms around the world.
The Blog: http://www.room217.ca/music-care-blog/
The Foundation: http://www.room217.ca/index.php/home
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