Palliative care is specialization program medical in 18 of the 53 European countries, among which Spain is not included. This is reflected in Specialisation in Palliative Medicine for Physicians in Europe 2014a supplement to the Atlas of Palliative Care in Europe presented in 2013. It has been promoted by the ATLANTES program program of Institute for Culture and Society (ICS) of the University of Navarra, the Accademia delle Scienze di Medicina Palliativa and the European Palliative Care Society (EAPC).

The work has been presented today at the VIII World congress of research in Palliative Care, which is being held until June 7 in Lérida under the auspices of the EAPC.

The document compiles reports on the characteristics of the specialization program and the year in which each of these nations obtained the specialization program: United Kingdom (1987), Ireland (1995), Poland (1999), Romania (2000), Malta (2003), Czech Republic (2004), Germany (2004), Finland (2007), France (2008), Georgia (2008), Latvia (2009), Norway (2011), Israel (2012), Italy (2012), Slovakia (2012), Hungary (2013), Portugal (2013) and Denmark (2014). It also contrasts data with those of three other leading countries in this field of health: Australia (2004), USA (2006) and Canada (2014).

As can be seen, 10 of the 18 countries have recognized in the last five years the specialization program, subspecialty, special area of training or equivalent. There is a clear tendency to establish specialization in this area as a condition for obtaining a place in palliative medicine in the health system, although it is not yet mandatory in most countries. 

Unification of curriculum educational in Europe

To access the programs, a previous clinical specialization program is required: five countries do not specify which one, while eight establish a list of access specialties or the professional experience required in palliative care. This varies, although the most frequent is one or two years. On the other hand, there is a great heterogeneity of the curriculum educational that leads to a variety of certification processes. The EAPC has the challenge to unify them, in order to lead to a European recognition of the area of specialization in palliative medicine.

The authors of the supplement are Deborah Bolognesi, Fondazione Isabella Seràgnoli (Bologna, Italy); Carlos Centeno, researcher principal of the ATLANTES program and specialist in Palliative Care at Clínica Universidad de Navarra; and Guido Biasco, University of Bologna and Accademia delle Scienze di Medicina Palliativa (Bologna, Italy). 

More information

Specialisation in Palliative Medicine for Physicians in Europe 2014 is available at the following link: http://hdl.handle.net/10171/35972. It is also available for free on Google Play and the Apple Store. The Android app is called ics-ATLANTES.