Next academic year 2021-22 the School of Nursing of the University of Navarra will offer a new Diploma in Palliative Care. degree program This is a pioneer in Spain and will be taught throughout the 4 years of the Degree in Nursing.

"Although in other Schools there are specialization degrees at the level of postgraduate program, there is no in-depth programme like this one, which is transversal to the entire degree program Nursing programme and designed to encourage critical reflective thinking in the field of Palliative Care, based on scientific evidence and which includes seminars with experts and a work of research", explains its coordinator, the lecturer and researcher Ana Carvajal.

Over the course of 6 subjects and more than 30 practical and theoretical credits, students will acquire the teaching, care and research resources "necessary to better understand and care for the person with a serious illness or who is near the end of life. Also their environment and family, the object of attention at the same level, under the concept of care that puts the person at the centre", stresses the expert, a lecturer at department of Nursing Care for Adult Patients of the academic centre.

The new degree program builds on a long history of teaching in this field by School: "Since 1990 we have been offering teaching on end-of-life care. In 2000 we launched subject elective subject as such and in 2018 it became subject mandatory, both in English and Spanish, in the context of Degree". The Diploma is also part of the "research with impact and focus" axis of the Strategy 2025 established by the University of Navarra, where it forms part of the area of Personalised Medicine and its three lines of research: Oncology, Rare Diseases and Palliative Medicine.

40 million people need palliative care and only 14% receive it

"The reality in our environment," explains the director of the new diploma, "is that more and more patients are dying outside palliative care units. This means that non-specialised nursing professionals end up providing palliative care. "At the same time, the WHO offers an incontestable data : 40 million people in the world need palliative care and only 14% receive it. Against this background, it is very clear that the demand for well-trained palliative care professionals will continue to grow".

On the other hand, as a result of the subjects that have been taught for years, at School they have seen how the specific training financial aid helps students "to have a more positive attitude towards palliative care, as they have tools that improve their performance with the patient and their environment".

"The family", concludes the expert and director of the new Diploma, "is a fundamental pillar in palliative care. If we want the patient to be well cared for, we have to care for the family and vice versa".