PACED
Perspectives provides a space for people working in palliative care – practitioners, educators, service managers and advocates – to present their view on an aspect of palliative care they consider especially important. Perspectives will be many and varied, and they will all help answer the key question “What can make good quality palliative care available to more people in Eastern Europe and Central Asia?”.
Perspectives on palliative care
PACED
Perspectives provides a space for people working in palliative care – practitioners, educators, service managers and advocates – to present their view on an aspect of palliative care they consider especially important. Perspectives will be many and varied, and they will all help answer the key question “What can make good quality palliative care available to more people in Eastern Europe and Central Asia?”.
Perspectives on palliative care
PACED
Perspectives provides a space for people working in palliative care – practitioners, educators, service managers and advocates – to present their view on an aspect of palliative care they consider especially important. Perspectives will be many and varied, and they will all help answer the key question “What can make good quality palliative care available to more people in Eastern Europe and Central Asia?”.
Perspectives on palliative care
Daniela Mosoiu is Associate Professor at Transilvania University and Director for Education and National Development at Hospice Casa Sperantei, Brasov, Romania.
Daniela Mosoiu is Associate Professor at Transilvania University and Director for Education and National Development at Hospice Casa Sperantei, Brasov, Romania.
Daniela Mosoiu from Hospice Casa Sperantei, Romania, looks at how specialty or subspeciality status for palliative care improves the quality of education and makes palliative care more widely respected by the medical world.
Personal experience
I started working in palliative care in Romania in 1995 as a young oncologist. Although I was well trained in assessing a given patient’s cancer stage and prognosis and offering anti-cancer treatment, I did not learn how to deal with symptoms or psycho-emotional, social and spiritual suffering. Education in palliative care and access to palliative care literature at that time was not as readily available as it is today so the only solution was to get training from abroad. This provided a strong motivation for us at Hospice Casa Sperantei, a young but dynamic NGO pioneering palliative care in Romania, to start training programs in the country to spread knowledge and to create allies in developing the palliative care field.
It was a challenge to engage the medical world: palliative care had no officially recognized status so there was great reluctance by physicians to commit their time for training in a field that did not provide the potential for career development. This was a common problem in the surrounding ex-communist countries such as Hungary, Serbia, Croatia; the exception was Poland where training programs were blossoming and attracting physicians not only from that country but from all Eastern European countries.
Looking for an explanation for this difference, the first that came to my mind was that palliative care services in Poland had started developing at an earlier time. However, other factors were also present – there was strong leadership in the country, palliative care was recognized as a subspeciality, and Poznan University was an academic centre which included palliative care as part of the curriculum. For me the lesson learned was that while providing clinical services helps individual patients, we need to go further in our work; specifically, it is essential to advocate to have palliative care recognized as a medical discipline.
So we started to organize consensus meetings with authorities and found supporters in the medical academic world. As a result, palliative care was recognized as a subspecialty in Romania in 2000. This was a turning point in our education programs. If it had previously been difficult to recruit ten doctors for an in-depth training in palliative care, once palliative care was officially recognized as a subspeciality the number of participants increased and new education centres had to open. At present our 18 month subspecialty training starts every second year in six centres throughout Romania with 120 participants enrolled and a waiting list.
European perspective
The European Atlas of Palliative Care1 monitors the development of palliative care at European level in terms of services, human resources allocated to palliative care, and access to medication. Professor Carlos Centeno from Atlantes University of Navara is leading this work and his research has highlighted that in 2005 palliative medicine had specialty status in just two European countries – Ireland and the UK – and subspecialty status in other five countries: Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Germany and France. In the following ten years, however, there were considerable changes.2 In 2014, 18 of 53 European countries had official programs on specialization or sub specialization in palliative care: Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Latvia, Malta, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, and the UK.3 In 2019, when the last edition of the Atlas was published, six more countries had palliative medicine as a specialty, 13 as a subspeciality and another ten as a specific field of competence. This shows a clear trend towards palliative care having official status and recognition.
Pros and cons for specialty / subspecialty status for palliative care
Having an official recognized national education program for postgraduate training in palliative care has several benefits:
• It ensures a consistent way of training a country’s future palliative care specialists and clearly defines the competencies required to practise
• It might be linked with special rights concerning prescribing of specific drugs
• It allows assessment measures to be put in place – for future specialists, for training centers, for clinical bases for practical placements
• It pushes clinical placement bases to strive towards providing excellent clinical care in order to be role models
• It increases the standard of care for patients.
A potential negative consequence can be that it slows down the pace at which new services are opened because education programs do not meet the increased requirement for trained staff, and this becomes a hindrance in service development.
Alongside specialty or subspecialty status for postgraduate training, there needs to be undergraduate education in palliative care; this will create an awareness and basic skills in palliative care for all doctors and nurses and improve palliative care throughout the healthcare system.
1 https://dadun.unav.edu/bitstream/10171/56787/6/Atlas%20Europa%202019_DEF.pdf
2 Centeno C, Bolognesi D, Biasco G. Comparative Analysis of Specialization in Palliative Medicine Processes Within the World Health Organization European Region. Journal of Symptom and Pain Management 2015 May; 49(5):861-870. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpainsymman.2014.10.019.
3 Centeno C, Noguera A, Lynch T, Clark D. Official certification of doctors working in palliative medicine in Europe: data from an EAPC study in 52 European countries. Palliative Medicine. 2007 Dec;21(8):683-7. https://doi.org/10.1177/0269216307083600.
.
Personal experience
I started working in palliative care in Romania in 1995 as a young oncologist. Although I was well trained in assessing a given patient’s cancer stage and prognosis and offering anti-cancer treatment, I did not learn how to deal with symptoms or psycho-emotional, social and spiritual suffering. Education in palliative care and access to palliative care literature at that time was not as readily available as it is today so the only solution was to get training from abroad. This provided a strong motivation for us at Hospice Casa Sperantei, a young but dynamic NGO pioneering palliative care in Romania, to start training programs in the country to spread knowledge and to create allies in developing the palliative care field.
It was a challenge to engage the medical world: palliative care had no officially recognized status so there was great reluctance by physicians to commit their time for training in a field that did not provide the potential for career development. This was a common problem in the surrounding ex-communist countries such as Hungary, Serbia, Croatia; the exception was Poland where training programs were blossoming and attracting physicians not only from that country but from all Eastern European countries.
Looking for an explanation for this difference, the first that came to my mind was that palliative care services in Poland had started developing at an earlier time. However, other factors were also present – there was strong leadership in the country, palliative care was recognized as a subspeciality, and Poznan University was an academic centre which included palliative care as part of the curriculum. For me the lesson learned was that while providing clinical services helps individual patients, we need to go further in our work; specifically, it is essential to advocate to have palliative care recognized as a medical discipline.
So we started to organize consensus meetings with authorities and found supporters in the medical academic world. As a result, palliative care was recognized as a subspecialty in Romania in 2000. This was a turning point in our education programs. If it had previously been difficult to recruit ten doctors for an in-depth training in palliative care, once palliative care was officially recognized as a subspeciality the number of participants increased and new education centres had to open. At present our 18 month subspecialty training starts every second year in six centres throughout Romania with 120 participants enrolled and a waiting list.
European perspective
The European Atlas of Palliative Care1 monitors the development of palliative care at European level in terms of services, human resources allocated to palliative care, and access to medication. Professor Carlos Centeno from Atlantes University of Navara is leading this work and his research has highlighted that in 2005 palliative medicine had specialty status in just two European countries – Ireland and the UK – and subspecialty status in other five countries: Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Germany and France. In the following ten years, however, there were considerable changes.2 In 2014, 18 of 53 European countries had official programs on specialization or sub specialization in palliative care: Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Latvia, Malta, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, and the UK.3 In 2019, when the last edition of the Atlas was published, six more countries had palliative medicine as a specialty, 13 as a subspeciality and another ten as a specific field of competence. This shows a clear trend towards palliative care having official status and recognition.
Pros and cons for specialty / subspecialty status for palliative care
Having an official recognized national education program for postgraduate training in palliative care has several benefits:
• It ensures a consistent way of training a country’s future palliative care specialists and clearly defines the competencies required to practise
• It might be linked with special rights concerning prescribing of specific drugs
• It allows assessment measures to be put in place – for future specialists, for training centers, for clinical bases for practical placements
• It pushes clinical placement bases to strive towards providing excellent clinical care in order to be role models
• It increases the standard of care for patients.
A potential negative consequence can be that it slows down the pace at which new services are opened because education programs do not meet the increased requirement for trained staff, and this becomes a hindrance in service development.
Alongside specialty or subspecialty status for postgraduate training, there needs to be undergraduate education in palliative care; this will create an awareness and basic skills in palliative care for all doctors and nurses and improve palliative care throughout the healthcare system.
1 https://dadun.unav.edu/bitstream/10171/56787/6/Atlas%20Europa%202019_DEF.pdf
2 Centeno C, Bolognesi D, Biasco G. Comparative Analysis of Specialization in Palliative Medicine Processes Within the World Health Organization European Region. Journal of Symptom and Pain Management 2015 May; 49(5):861-870. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpainsymman.2014.10.019.
3 Centeno C, Noguera A, Lynch T, Clark D. Official certification of doctors working in palliative medicine in Europe: data from an EAPC study in 52 European countries. Palliative Medicine. 2007 Dec;21(8):683-7. https://doi.org/10.1177/0269216307083600.
.
Stephen Connor is Executive Director of the World Hospice Palliative Care Alliance and a member of PACED’s Education Advisory Committee.
Stephen Connor is Executive Director of the World Hospice Palliative Care Alliance and a member of PACED’s Education Advisory Committee.
Stephen Connor considers how building palliative care leadership in countries is necessary to complement improved education programmes.
Palliative care (PC) development in any region is dependent on the quality of leadership in each country. PACED and other non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that work on PC development have as one of their main aims to build up and support emerging PC leaders so they can be more effective champions for PC in their country and region. There is opportunity for this to be mutually beneficial as we are all lifelong learners and can benefit from each other’s experience and knowledge in an atmosphere of mutual respect and cultural humility.
Helping to help develop palliative care leaders cannot be done by parachuting in with single visits or training sessions. There must be ongoing relationships that may last many years. The process of PC development often happens in fits and starts with many obstacles that must be overcome through perseverance. The public health model for palliative care has many interlocking components that have to be addressed sometimes simultaneously and sometimes in sequence. For example, training in pain management when opioids are not yet available is ineffective. Implementing services before laws and policies are in place may not be possible. Public education and medical education need to be done in parallel.
Medical education needs to be developed at multiple levels in each country such that it includes undergraduate education in medical schools, nursing colleges, and universities; as well as post graduate programs and continuing medical education. Recognition of PC as a specialization in the health care system is an important goal and only comes about when a critical mass of competent clinical palliative care leaders and educators is achieved.
Ongoing mentorship is an important part of leadership development and should be embedded into all training programs as a part of ‘bedside’ teaching. Palliative care cannot just be taught in classrooms but has to include direct experience in caring for patients with PC needs and the opportunity to discuss difficult cases and problems with an experienced colleague.
Many different stakeholders need to be engaged during the PC development period to succeed. These include medical and nursing leaders and their universities; NGOs advocating for health and human rights; government ministries and political leaders; existing health care delivery organizations; and so forth. Through inclusion, organizations and individuals will come to understand and ‘buy in’ to the need for and development of PC in their country.
Political leadership is also very important and necessary to make progress in a country. Getting leaders to prioritize support for palliative care can be difficult as there are many health care priorities to be considered. Making the case for the value of PC to every health care system is necessary by using evidence to show how PC improves quality of life by anticipating and preventing health crises that result in unnecessary and unintended health care utilization and cost. However, it is not enough to focus on cost effectiveness, we must keep quality of care always in mind as our goal and show political leaders that it is a necessary social good that all citizens will value as a requirement for a just and equitable society.
Ultimately making good quality PC available to more people in any country requires strong, competent, dedicated leaders. Leadership in PC can emerge spontaneously but can be nurtured and encouraged through the kinds of relationships that we hope to develop through PACED.
A new Perspective will be published each month and we are always looking for contributors. If you would like to write about what matters to you, please contact info@paced.org.uk.
Across Eastern Europe and Central Asia (EECA) there is an increasing desire to share palliative care expertise across country borders. This applies to collaboration between countries inside the region, and also to learn from countries outside the region such as the UK.
During the last few months, there have been several events bringing together the palliative care community from around the region, all held bilingually in Russian and English. In October there was a meeting at the EAPC Congress, followed in early November by a full day’s session at Russia’s main palliative care conference.
On 29 November 2021 PACED built on these initiatives by running a regional consultation to advance palliative care education. Held online, PACED’s collaborators across the region formed country delegations including a mix of practitioners, educators, and NGOs. This led to over 50 people from fourteen countries coming together to describe challenges, share ideas and consider practical solutions.
The meeting began with participants hearing from Dr. Susie Wilkinson from the Centre for Communication Skills at the Palliative Care Institute, University of Liverpool. Susie described the importance of communication skills in providing good quality palliative care and explained how her institute had developed a very successful two-day course. She also explained how, to her great surprise, the pandemic had revealed that many communication skills can effectively be taught online.
The meeting then held open discussions to consider two themes: first, a focus on education for healthcare workers – both before they qualify and throughout their careers. Participants discussed the different challenges in primary, secondary, and tertiary/specialist settings and the role that online learning can play. The discussion then turned to the challenges facing educators in medical and nursing schools, where faculty members may not have clinical experience in palliative care, teach in isolation from other educators, and without the backup of a palliative care department. The many insightful contributions of this session are intended to help PACED plan its program of work for 2022.
The evaluations from the meeting confirmed this is valuable and necessary work. “Thank for very much for this brilliant initiative!” wrote one participant. We are now writing up a full report on the meeting which we look forward to sharing with you soon.
During the last few months, there have been several events bringing together the palliative care community from around the region, all held bilingually in Russian and English. In October there was a meeting at the EAPC Congress, followed in early November by a full day’s session at Russia’s main palliative care conference.
On 29 November 2021 PACED built on these initiatives by running a regional consultation to advance palliative care education. Held online, PACED’s collaborators across the region formed country delegations including a mix of practitioners, educators, and NGOs. This led to over 50 people from fourteen countries coming together to describe challenges, share ideas and consider practical solutions.
The meeting began with participants hearing from Dr. Susie Wilkinson from the Centre for Communication Skills at the Palliative Care Institute, University of Liverpool. Susie described the importance of communication skills in providing good quality palliative care and explained how her institute had developed a very successful two-day course. She also explained how, to her great surprise, the pandemic had revealed that many communication skills can effectively be taught online.
The meeting then held open discussions to consider two themes: first, a focus on education for healthcare workers – both before they qualify and throughout their careers. Participants discussed the different challenges in primary, secondary, and tertiary/specialist settings and the role that online learning can play. The discussion then turned to the challenges facing educators in medical and nursing schools, where faculty members may not have clinical experience in palliative care, teach in isolation from other educators, and without the backup of a palliative care department. The many insightful contributions of this session are intended to help PACED plan its program of work for 2022.
The evaluations from the meeting confirmed this is valuable and necessary work. “Thank for very much for this brilliant initiative!” wrote one participant. We are now writing up a full report on the meeting which we look forward to sharing with you soon.
On 2nd and 3rd November 2021, Russia’s leading palliative care conference took place online and included a full-day session on palliative care in the EECA/CIS region. This year’s conference attracted over 2500 participants, which shows a remarkable level of interest.
The conference theme was ‘Development of palliative care for adults and children’ and the event was organised by the Hospice Care Professionals Association (HCPA), with support from Sechenov University, the Worldwide Hospice Palliative Care Alliance and the American Eurasian Cancer Alliance. This annual event is the largest educational event in Russia for specialists providing care to adults and children with severe progressive and life-limiting diseases. This year’s conference brought together experts from around the world, with 80 lecturers from 12 countries.
After an opening plenary, the conference divided into three parallel symposiums and, on Tuesday 2nd November, there was a full day, English/Russian bi-lingual symposium on the organisation of palliative care in EECA/CIS countries. With the HCPA’s Chair Diana Nevzorova presiding, this excellent session investigated obstacles and progress in various countries of the region, and included discussion of chronic pain management in palliative care. Alongside this, PACED’s Chief Executive Mike Mandelbaum gave a presentation on new initiatives in professional education in EECA.
A paediatrician from St Petersburg described the conference as “Two days of a miracle” and PACED was equally enthused. “This was an excellent event”, said Mike Mandelbaum, “bringing together practitioners and experts from Russia, EECA and around the world to
share ideas and insights. It was a pleasure for PACED to be involved and to receive positive feedback about our work with stakeholders from all around the EECA region.”
The conference theme was ‘Development of palliative care for adults and children’ and the event was organised by the Hospice Care Professionals Association (HCPA), with support from Sechenov University, the Worldwide Hospice Palliative Care Alliance and the American Eurasian Cancer Alliance. This annual event is the largest educational event in Russia for specialists providing care to adults and children with severe progressive and life-limiting diseases. This year’s conference brought together experts from around the world, with 80 lecturers from 12 countries.
After an opening plenary, the conference divided into three parallel symposiums and, on Tuesday 2nd November, there was a full day, English/Russian bi-lingual symposium on the organisation of palliative care in EECA/CIS countries. With the HCPA’s Chair Diana Nevzorova presiding, this excellent session investigated obstacles and progress in various countries of the region, and included discussion of chronic pain management in palliative care. Alongside this, PACED’s Chief Executive Mike Mandelbaum gave a presentation on new initiatives in professional education in EECA.
A paediatrician from St Petersburg described the conference as “Two days of a miracle” and PACED was equally enthused. “This was an excellent event”, said Mike Mandelbaum, “bringing together practitioners and experts from Russia, EECA and around the world to
share ideas and insights. It was a pleasure for PACED to be involved and to receive positive feedback about our work with stakeholders from all around the EECA region.”
The EAPC Congress is one of the palliative care world’s most important gatherings. It provides a place for people to meet – although this year online – and hear new ideas, initiatives and developments from around Europe. This year’s theme was “Exploring New Dimensions” and, given the impact of COVID-19, we heard how the palliative care community has responded to this unprecedented modern challenge.
People from low and middle income countries, where palliative care is often in its relative infancy, can learn so much from these events, but the cost of registering often prevents them from attending. So PACED, in partnership with the EAPC, provided ten bursaries to this year’s Congress for people from Eastern Europe and Central Asia.
We received many more requests for bursaries than we could provide, so we picked the successful people to represent a cross-section of countries and roles. Our ‘PACED team’ represented Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Moldova and Ukraine. We look forward to telling you about their experiences of the Congress later during the coming months.
People from low and middle income countries, where palliative care is often in its relative infancy, can learn so much from these events, but the cost of registering often prevents them from attending. So PACED, in partnership with the EAPC, provided ten bursaries to this year’s Congress for people from Eastern Europe and Central Asia.
We received many more requests for bursaries than we could provide, so we picked the successful people to represent a cross-section of countries and roles. Our ‘PACED team’ represented Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Moldova and Ukraine. We look forward to telling you about their experiences of the Congress later during the coming months.
PACED was proud to work with leading regional and global organisations to co-sponsor an online meeting to exchange experience on palliative care issues in CIS/EECA countries, with the aim of initiating changes across the region to improve country strategies. The meeting, on 5 October, formed part of the pre-Congress sessions of the European Association for Palliative Care’s Online Congress.
The session brought together specialists, professional communities and policymakers from across the region. Our co-sponsors were the World Hospice Palliative Care Alliance, Hospice Care Professionals Association (Russia), American Eurasian Cancer Alliance and European Association for Palliative Care.
The session brought together specialists, professional communities and policymakers from across the region. Our co-sponsors were the World Hospice Palliative Care Alliance, Hospice Care Professionals Association (Russia), American Eurasian Cancer Alliance and European Association for Palliative Care.
A 4-day educational course designed for palliative care professionals was launched online with over 100 participants from 11 countries on board.
During the training course, topical issues of a medical nature (pain management, urgent mental states, bedsores) were covered, and complex clinical cases were analysed by 8 lecturers.
The third day of the course was entirely devoted to one of the most important aspects of providing quality palliative care - communication with patients and their family members. Interactive online training was conducted by leading British communication trainers. The communication session included theoretical and practical material (videos, situational scenarios, and discussions).
For the first time, a palliative care organisation constructor with practical recommendations for implementation in the national healthcare system was presented.
We express our gratitude to Association of Medical Translators for supporting our training course and providing four simultaneous interpreters pro bono.
We appreciate volunteers' time dedicated to consulting, Zoom administrating, and video editing.
Thanks so much to the Kazakhstan Association of Palliative Care 'Together Against Cancer' and personally to Gulnara Kunirova.
Thanks to all PACED representatives for being enthusiastic and engaged.
During the training course, topical issues of a medical nature (pain management, urgent mental states, bedsores) were covered, and complex clinical cases were analysed by 8 lecturers.
The third day of the course was entirely devoted to one of the most important aspects of providing quality palliative care - communication with patients and their family members. Interactive online training was conducted by leading British communication trainers. The communication session included theoretical and practical material (videos, situational scenarios, and discussions).
For the first time, a palliative care organisation constructor with practical recommendations for implementation in the national healthcare system was presented.
We express our gratitude to Association of Medical Translators for supporting our training course and providing four simultaneous interpreters pro bono.
We appreciate volunteers' time dedicated to consulting, Zoom administrating, and video editing.
Thanks so much to the Kazakhstan Association of Palliative Care 'Together Against Cancer' and personally to Gulnara Kunirova.
Thanks to all PACED representatives for being enthusiastic and engaged.
Our Trustees and Advisers include leaders in the field of palliative care in the UK, EECA and globally.
NEWS
Across Eastern Europe and Central Asia (EECA) there is an increasing desire to share palliative care expertise across country borders. This applies to collaboration between countries inside the region, and also to learning from countries outside the region such as the UK.
During the last few months there have been several events bringing together the palliative care community from around the region, all held bilingually in Russian and English. In October there was a meeting at the EAPC Congress, followed in early November by a full day’s session at Russia’s main palliative care conference.
On 29 November PACED built on these initiatives by running a regional consultation to advance palliative care education. Held online, PACED’s collaborators across the region formed country delegations including a mix of practitioners, educators and NGOs. This led to over 50 people from fourteen countries coming together to describe challenges, share ideas and consider practical solutions.
The meeting began with participants hearing from Dr Susie Wilkinson from the Centre for Communication Skills at the Palliative Care Institute, University of Liverpool. Susie described the importance of communication skills in providing good quality palliative care, and explained how her institute had developed a very successful two day course. She also explained how, to her great surprise, the pandemic had revealed that many communication skills can effectively be taught online.
The meeting then held open discussions to consider two themes: first, a focus on education for healthcare workers – both before they qualify and throughout their careers. Participants discussed the different challenges in primary, secondary and tertiary/specialist settings and the role that online learning can play. The discussion then turned to the challenges facing educators in medical and nursing schools, where faculty members may not have clinical experience of palliative care, teach in isolation from other educators and without the back-up of a palliative care department. The many insightful contributions of this session is intended to help PACED plan its programme of work for 2022.
The evaluations from the meeting confirmed this is valuable and necessary work. “Thank for very much for this brilliant initiative!” wrote one participant. We are now writing up a full report on the meeting which we look forward to sharing with you soon.
During the last few months there have been several events bringing together the palliative care community from around the region, all held bilingually in Russian and English. In October there was a meeting at the EAPC Congress, followed in early November by a full day’s session at Russia’s main palliative care conference.
On 29 November PACED built on these initiatives by running a regional consultation to advance palliative care education. Held online, PACED’s collaborators across the region formed country delegations including a mix of practitioners, educators and NGOs. This led to over 50 people from fourteen countries coming together to describe challenges, share ideas and consider practical solutions.
The meeting began with participants hearing from Dr Susie Wilkinson from the Centre for Communication Skills at the Palliative Care Institute, University of Liverpool. Susie described the importance of communication skills in providing good quality palliative care, and explained how her institute had developed a very successful two day course. She also explained how, to her great surprise, the pandemic had revealed that many communication skills can effectively be taught online.
The meeting then held open discussions to consider two themes: first, a focus on education for healthcare workers – both before they qualify and throughout their careers. Participants discussed the different challenges in primary, secondary and tertiary/specialist settings and the role that online learning can play. The discussion then turned to the challenges facing educators in medical and nursing schools, where faculty members may not have clinical experience of palliative care, teach in isolation from other educators and without the back-up of a palliative care department. The many insightful contributions of this session is intended to help PACED plan its programme of work for 2022.
The evaluations from the meeting confirmed this is valuable and necessary work. “Thank for very much for this brilliant initiative!” wrote one participant. We are now writing up a full report on the meeting which we look forward to sharing with you soon.
On 2nd and 3rd November 2021, Russia’s leading palliative care conference took place online and included a full day session on palliative care in the EECA/CIS region. This year’s conference attracted over 2500 participants, which shows a remarkable level of interest.
The conference theme was ‘Development of palliative care for adults and children’ and the event was organised by the Hospice Care Professionals Association (HCPA), with support from Sechenov University, the Worldwide Hospice Palliative Care Alliance and the American Eurasian Cancer Alliance. This annual event is the largest educational event in Russia for specialists providing care to adults and children with severe progressive and life-limiting diseases. This year’s conference brought together experts from around the world, with 80 lecturers from 12 countries.
After an opening plenary, the conference divided into three parallel symposiums and, on Tuesday 2nd November, there was a full day, English/Russian bi-lingual symposium on the organisation of palliative care in EECA/CIS countries. With the HCPA’s Chair Diana Nevzorova presiding, this excellent session investigated obstacles and progress in various countries of the region, and included discussion of chronic pain management in palliative care. Alongside this, PACED’s Chief Executive Mike Mandelbaum gave a presentation on new initiatives in professional education in EECA.
A paediatrician from St Petersburg described the conference as “Two days of a miracle” and PACED was equally enthused. “This was an excellent event”, said Mike Mandelbaum, “bringing together practitioners and experts from Russia, EECA and around the world to
share ideas and insights. It was a pleasure for PACED to be involved and to receive positive feedback about our work with stakeholders from all around the EECA region.”
The conference theme was ‘Development of palliative care for adults and children’ and the event was organised by the Hospice Care Professionals Association (HCPA), with support from Sechenov University, the Worldwide Hospice Palliative Care Alliance and the American Eurasian Cancer Alliance. This annual event is the largest educational event in Russia for specialists providing care to adults and children with severe progressive and life-limiting diseases. This year’s conference brought together experts from around the world, with 80 lecturers from 12 countries.
After an opening plenary, the conference divided into three parallel symposiums and, on Tuesday 2nd November, there was a full day, English/Russian bi-lingual symposium on the organisation of palliative care in EECA/CIS countries. With the HCPA’s Chair Diana Nevzorova presiding, this excellent session investigated obstacles and progress in various countries of the region, and included discussion of chronic pain management in palliative care. Alongside this, PACED’s Chief Executive Mike Mandelbaum gave a presentation on new initiatives in professional education in EECA.
A paediatrician from St Petersburg described the conference as “Two days of a miracle” and PACED was equally enthused. “This was an excellent event”, said Mike Mandelbaum, “bringing together practitioners and experts from Russia, EECA and around the world to
share ideas and insights. It was a pleasure for PACED to be involved and to receive positive feedback about our work with stakeholders from all around the EECA region.”
The EAPC Congress is one of the palliative care world’s most important gatherings. It provides a place for people to meet – although this year online – and hear new ideas, initiatives and developments from around Europe. This year’s theme was “Exploring New Dimensions” and, given the impact of COVID-19, we heard how the palliative care community has responded to this unprecedented modern challenge.
People from low and middle income countries, where palliative care is often in its relative infancy, can learn so much from these events, but the cost of registering often prevents them from attending. So PACED, in partnership with the EAPC, provided ten bursaries to this year’s Congress for people from Eastern Europe and Central Asia.
We received many more requests for bursaries than we could provide, so we picked the successful people to represent a cross-section of countries and roles. Our ‘PACED team’ represented Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Moldova and Ukraine. We look forward to telling you about their experiences of the Congress later during the coming months.
People from low and middle income countries, where palliative care is often in its relative infancy, can learn so much from these events, but the cost of registering often prevents them from attending. So PACED, in partnership with the EAPC, provided ten bursaries to this year’s Congress for people from Eastern Europe and Central Asia.
We received many more requests for bursaries than we could provide, so we picked the successful people to represent a cross-section of countries and roles. Our ‘PACED team’ represented Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Moldova and Ukraine. We look forward to telling you about their experiences of the Congress later during the coming months.
PACED was proud to work with leading regional and global organisations to co-sponsor an online meeting to exchange experience on palliative care issues in CIS/EECA countries, with the aim of initiating changes across the region to improve country strategies. The meeting, on 5 October, formed part of the pre-Congress sessions of the European Association for Palliative Care’s Online Congress.
The session brought together specialists, professional communities and policymakers from across the region. Our co-sponsors were the World Hospice Palliative Care Alliance, Hospice Care Professionals Association (Russia), American Eurasian Cancer Alliance and European Association for Palliative Care.
The session brought together specialists, professional communities and policymakers from across the region. Our co-sponsors were the World Hospice Palliative Care Alliance, Hospice Care Professionals Association (Russia), American Eurasian Cancer Alliance and European Association for Palliative Care.
A 4-day educational course designed for palliative care professionals was launched online with over 100 participants from 11 countries on board.
During the training course, topical issues of a medical nature (pain management, urgent mental states, bedsores) were covered, and complex clinical cases were analysed by 8 lecturers.
The third day of the course was entirely devoted to one of the most important aspects of providing quality palliative care - communication with patients and their family members. Interactive online training was conducted by leading British communication trainers. The communication session included theoretical and practical material (videos, situational scenarios, and discussions).
For the first time, a palliative care organisation constructor with practical recommendations for implementation in the national healthcare system was presented.
We express our gratitude to Association of Medical Translators for supporting our training course and providing four simultaneous interpreters pro bono.
We appreciate volunteers' time dedicated to consulting, Zoom administrating, and video editing.
Thanks so much to the Kazakhstan Association of Palliative Care 'Together Against Cancer' and personally to Gulnara Kunirova.
Thanks to all PACED representatives for being enthusiastic and engaged.
During the training course, topical issues of a medical nature (pain management, urgent mental states, bedsores) were covered, and complex clinical cases were analysed by 8 lecturers.
The third day of the course was entirely devoted to one of the most important aspects of providing quality palliative care - communication with patients and their family members. Interactive online training was conducted by leading British communication trainers. The communication session included theoretical and practical material (videos, situational scenarios, and discussions).
For the first time, a palliative care organisation constructor with practical recommendations for implementation in the national healthcare system was presented.
We express our gratitude to Association of Medical Translators for supporting our training course and providing four simultaneous interpreters pro bono.
We appreciate volunteers' time dedicated to consulting, Zoom administrating, and video editing.
Thanks so much to the Kazakhstan Association of Palliative Care 'Together Against Cancer' and personally to Gulnara Kunirova.
Thanks to all PACED representatives for being enthusiastic and engaged.
Across Eastern Europe and Central Asia (EECA) there is an increasing desire to share palliative care expertise across country borders. This applies to collaboration between countries inside the region, and also to learning from countries outside the region such as the UK.
During the last few months there have been several events bringing together the palliative care community from around the region, all held bilingually in Russian and English. In October there was a meeting at the EAPC Congress, followed in early November by a full day’s session at Russia’s main palliative care conference.
On 29 November PACED built on these initiatives by running a regional consultation to advance palliative care education. Held online, PACED’s collaborators across the region formed country delegations including a mix of practitioners, educators and NGOs. This led to over 50 people from fourteen countries coming together to describe challenges, share ideas and consider practical solutions.
The meeting began with participants hearing from Dr Susie Wilkinson from the Centre for Communication Skills at the Palliative Care Institute, University of Liverpool. Susie described the importance of communication skills in providing good quality palliative care, and explained how her institute had developed a very successful two day course. She also explained how, to her great surprise, the pandemic had revealed that many communication skills can effectively be taught online.
The meeting then held open discussions to consider two themes: first, a focus on education for healthcare workers – both before they qualify and throughout their careers. Participants discussed the different challenges in primary, secondary and tertiary/specialist settings and the role that online learning can play. The discussion then turned to the challenges facing educators in medical and nursing schools, where faculty members may not have clinical experience of palliative care, teach in isolation from other educators and without the back-up of a palliative care department. The many insightful contributions of this session is intended to help PACED plan its programme of work for 2022.
The evaluations from the meeting confirmed this is valuable and necessary work. “Thank for very much for this brilliant initiative!” wrote one participant. We are now writing up a full report on the meeting which we look forward to sharing with you soon.
During the last few months there have been several events bringing together the palliative care community from around the region, all held bilingually in Russian and English. In October there was a meeting at the EAPC Congress, followed in early November by a full day’s session at Russia’s main palliative care conference.
On 29 November PACED built on these initiatives by running a regional consultation to advance palliative care education. Held online, PACED’s collaborators across the region formed country delegations including a mix of practitioners, educators and NGOs. This led to over 50 people from fourteen countries coming together to describe challenges, share ideas and consider practical solutions.
The meeting began with participants hearing from Dr Susie Wilkinson from the Centre for Communication Skills at the Palliative Care Institute, University of Liverpool. Susie described the importance of communication skills in providing good quality palliative care, and explained how her institute had developed a very successful two day course. She also explained how, to her great surprise, the pandemic had revealed that many communication skills can effectively be taught online.
The meeting then held open discussions to consider two themes: first, a focus on education for healthcare workers – both before they qualify and throughout their careers. Participants discussed the different challenges in primary, secondary and tertiary/specialist settings and the role that online learning can play. The discussion then turned to the challenges facing educators in medical and nursing schools, where faculty members may not have clinical experience of palliative care, teach in isolation from other educators and without the back-up of a palliative care department. The many insightful contributions of this session is intended to help PACED plan its programme of work for 2022.
The evaluations from the meeting confirmed this is valuable and necessary work. “Thank for very much for this brilliant initiative!” wrote one participant. We are now writing up a full report on the meeting which we look forward to sharing with you soon.
On 2nd and 3rd November 2021, Russia’s leading palliative care conference took place online and included a full day session on palliative care in the EECA/CIS region. This year’s conference attracted over 2500 participants, which shows a remarkable level of interest.
The conference theme was ‘Development of palliative care for adults and children’ and the event was organised by the Hospice Care Professionals Association (HCPA), with support from Sechenov University, the Worldwide Hospice Palliative Care Alliance and the American Eurasian Cancer Alliance. This annual event is the largest educational event in Russia for specialists providing care to adults and children with severe progressive and life-limiting diseases. This year’s conference brought together experts from around the world, with 80 lecturers from 12 countries.
After an opening plenary, the conference divided into three parallel symposiums and, on Tuesday 2nd November, there was a full day, English/Russian bi-lingual symposium on the organisation of palliative care in EECA/CIS countries. With the HCPA’s Chair Diana Nevzorova presiding, this excellent session investigated obstacles and progress in various countries of the region, and included discussion of chronic pain management in palliative care. Alongside this, PACED’s Chief Executive Mike Mandelbaum gave a presentation on new initiatives in professional education in EECA.
A paediatrician from St Petersburg described the conference as “Two days of a miracle” and PACED was equally enthused. “This was an excellent event”, said Mike Mandelbaum, “bringing together practitioners and experts from Russia, EECA and around the world to
share ideas and insights. It was a pleasure for PACED to be involved and to receive positive feedback about our work with stakeholders from all around the EECA region.”
The conference theme was ‘Development of palliative care for adults and children’ and the event was organised by the Hospice Care Professionals Association (HCPA), with support from Sechenov University, the Worldwide Hospice Palliative Care Alliance and the American Eurasian Cancer Alliance. This annual event is the largest educational event in Russia for specialists providing care to adults and children with severe progressive and life-limiting diseases. This year’s conference brought together experts from around the world, with 80 lecturers from 12 countries.
After an opening plenary, the conference divided into three parallel symposiums and, on Tuesday 2nd November, there was a full day, English/Russian bi-lingual symposium on the organisation of palliative care in EECA/CIS countries. With the HCPA’s Chair Diana Nevzorova presiding, this excellent session investigated obstacles and progress in various countries of the region, and included discussion of chronic pain management in palliative care. Alongside this, PACED’s Chief Executive Mike Mandelbaum gave a presentation on new initiatives in professional education in EECA.
A paediatrician from St Petersburg described the conference as “Two days of a miracle” and PACED was equally enthused. “This was an excellent event”, said Mike Mandelbaum, “bringing together practitioners and experts from Russia, EECA and around the world to
share ideas and insights. It was a pleasure for PACED to be involved and to receive positive feedback about our work with stakeholders from all around the EECA region.”
The EAPC Congress is one of the palliative care world’s most important gatherings. It provides a place for people to meet – although this year online – and hear new ideas, initiatives and developments from around Europe. This year’s theme was “Exploring New Dimensions” and, given the impact of COVID-19, we heard how the palliative care community has responded to this unprecedented modern challenge.
People from low and middle income countries, where palliative care is often in its relative infancy, can learn so much from these events, but the cost of registering often prevents them from attending. So PACED, in partnership with the EAPC, provided ten bursaries to this year’s Congress for people from Eastern Europe and Central Asia.
We received many more requests for bursaries than we could provide, so we picked the successful people to represent a cross-section of countries and roles. Our ‘PACED team’ represented Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Moldova and Ukraine. We look forward to telling you about their experiences of the Congress later during the coming months.
People from low and middle income countries, where palliative care is often in its relative infancy, can learn so much from these events, but the cost of registering often prevents them from attending. So PACED, in partnership with the EAPC, provided ten bursaries to this year’s Congress for people from Eastern Europe and Central Asia.
We received many more requests for bursaries than we could provide, so we picked the successful people to represent a cross-section of countries and roles. Our ‘PACED team’ represented Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Moldova and Ukraine. We look forward to telling you about their experiences of the Congress later during the coming months.
PACED was proud to work with leading regional and global organisations to co-sponsor an online meeting to exchange experience on palliative care issues in CIS/EECA countries, with the aim of initiating changes across the region to improve country strategies. The meeting, on 5 October, formed part of the pre-Congress sessions of the European Association for Palliative Care’s Online Congress.
The session brought together specialists, professional communities and policymakers from across the region. Our co-sponsors were the World Hospice Palliative Care Alliance, Hospice Care Professionals Association (Russia), American Eurasian Cancer Alliance and European Association for Palliative Care.
The session brought together specialists, professional communities and policymakers from across the region. Our co-sponsors were the World Hospice Palliative Care Alliance, Hospice Care Professionals Association (Russia), American Eurasian Cancer Alliance and European Association for Palliative Care.
A 4-day educational course designed for palliative care professionals was launched online with over 100 participants from 11 countries on board.
During the training course, topical issues of a medical nature (pain management, urgent mental states, bedsores) were covered, and complex clinical cases were analysed by 8 lecturers.
The third day of the course was entirely devoted to one of the most important aspects of providing quality palliative care - communication with patients and their family members. Interactive online training was conducted by leading British communication trainers. The communication session included theoretical and practical material (videos, situational scenarios, and discussions).
For the first time, a palliative care organisation constructor with practical recommendations for implementation in the national healthcare system was presented.
We express our gratitude to Association of Medical Translators for supporting our training course and providing four simultaneous interpreters pro bono.
We appreciate volunteers' time dedicated to consulting, Zoom administrating, and video editing.
Thanks so much to the Kazakhstan Association of Palliative Care 'Together Against Cancer' and personally to Gulnara Kunirova.
Thanks to all PACED representatives for being enthusiastic and engaged.
During the training course, topical issues of a medical nature (pain management, urgent mental states, bedsores) were covered, and complex clinical cases were analysed by 8 lecturers.
The third day of the course was entirely devoted to one of the most important aspects of providing quality palliative care - communication with patients and their family members. Interactive online training was conducted by leading British communication trainers. The communication session included theoretical and practical material (videos, situational scenarios, and discussions).
For the first time, a palliative care organisation constructor with practical recommendations for implementation in the national healthcare system was presented.
We express our gratitude to Association of Medical Translators for supporting our training course and providing four simultaneous interpreters pro bono.
We appreciate volunteers' time dedicated to consulting, Zoom administrating, and video editing.
Thanks so much to the Kazakhstan Association of Palliative Care 'Together Against Cancer' and personally to Gulnara Kunirova.
Thanks to all PACED representatives for being enthusiastic and engaged.
New PACED Newsletter
We want to keep you informed not just about developments at PACED but around the palliative care world, especially in EECA. So please sign up for our new newsletter which we will soon be launching.
New PACED Newsletter
Sign up to PACED's new newsletter which we are shortly launching!