2016_04_14_ENF_cuidados_paliativos

Every year, more than 250,000 people in Spain need palliative care, around 65% of the patients who die. Thirty percent of those who die from non-oncological diseases, and 70% from oncological conditions, require specific palliative care. 

With these data, 21 of 40 Spanish Schools include in their training programs a subject on Palliative Medicine, although only 8 of them make it compulsory. Every year, more than 3,000 physicians graduate without receiving training in Palliative Care .

In order to promote its teaching in the university setting and to be able to count on expert professors to teach this teaching, the Institute for Culture and Society of the University of Navarra and the Vianorte-Laguna Foundation have jointly organized the VI edition of the training course of Teachers in Palliative Care at the training Center of the Vianorte-Laguna Foundation. 

The course, which has also had the support of sponsorship of the Grünenthal Foundation Spain, received in 2013 the award to the Humanization of Health granted by the high school of Doctors of Madrid. It follows a European tradition of nearly 20 years, and has been successfully taught with students of more than 20 nationalities and in 10 different countries. To teach this course, international experts such as Dr. Ruthmarijke Smeding, director of the course, Senior Trainer at the University of Liverpool and high school of teaching Clinical Palliative Care Rotterdam. 

The list professor was completed by Dr. Carlos Centeno, consultant of the department of Palliative Medicine of the Clínica Universidad de NavarraSenior Associate Professor of the School of Medicine, and Director of the group of work "development of Palliative Care in Europe" of the European Palliative Care Society (EAPC), Dr. Jaime Boceta, Physician of Home Hospitalization and Palliative Care, and Dr. Jaime Boceta, Physician of Home Hospitalization and Palliative Care of the EAPC. Jaime Boceta, Physician of Home Hospitalization and Palliative Care of the Hospital Universitario Virgen Macarena, and Adjunct Professor of the School of Medicine of the University of Seville, and Dr. D. Antonio Noguera Tejedor, partner of the department of Palliative Medicine of the Clínica Universidad de Navarra and Adjunct Professor of the School of Medicine. 

Training the best, to teach everyone

"The participants in this course have excellent professional backgrounds and are looking to deepen their understanding of the existential aspects that affect patients. Therefore, more than technical skills, this course aimed to improve their communication skills and Education ", explained Dr. Ruthmarijke Smeding. "Part of the program was also dedicated to studying the implications of the training processes in the participants' organizations: how to move from learning efficiency to effectiveness in clinical activity, how to maintain what has been learned after the course, so that there are not only immediate reactions, but also behavioral changes, how to involve colleagues, hospitals, health centers, to improve patient care and attendance . This was one of the innovations incorporated in the course. This has been one of the novelties incorporated into the advanced course", emphasized Dr. Carlos Centeno.