Nearly 30 medical professionals participated in Madrid in the III edition of the training course of Teachers in Palliative Care, organized by the Vianorte-Laguna Foundation at partnership with the ATLANTES program program of the Institute for Culture and Society (ICS) program of the University of Navarra.

"The latest data of scientific societies highlight the need to promote the specific training in this area: more than 130,000 patients demand this care subject each year, so it would be necessary to have 1,500 specialized doctors," stressed from the Vianorte-Laguna Foundation.

The course, which received this year the award to the Humanization of Health granted by the high school of Doctors of Madrid, has a European tradition of nearly 20 years and has been successfully taught with students of more than 20 nationalities and in 10 different countries.

This edition, with the collaboration of the Grünenthal Foundation SpainThe course was given by two international experts. Ruthmarijke Smeding, director of the course, is a senior trainer at the University of Liverpool and high school of teaching Clinical Palliative Care Rotterdam. Gustavo de Simone, president of the association Argentina de Medicina y Cuidados Paliativos, is coordinator of the palliative care program in Buenos Aires and director physician of Pallium, an international center of reference letter .

Improving the qualification of experts

The professor team was completed by Carlos Centeno, researcher main of the ATLANTES program of the ICS, consultant of the department of Palliative Medicine of the Clínica Universidad de Navarra, Senior Associate Professor of the School of Medicine and director of the group of work "development of Palliative Care in Europe" of the European Society for Palliative Care (EAPC); and Antonio Noguera Tejedor, Deputy Director physician of the Hospital Centro de Cuidados Laguna, and professor of Palliative Medicine at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid.

"All the participants in this course have excellent professional careers, but they know that skills can always be improved and they are looking to deepen the existential aspects that patients need to strengthen in order to move forward. That is why, more than technical skills, this course aimed to improve their qualification for communication and Education in relation to their patients," explained Dr. de Simone.

"Palliative care professionals," he added, "must always be that serene companion who brings peace of mind in the midst of the storm. They must give him their own serenity so that he can understand his status without becoming angry with life or isolating himself from his family and the rest of the world. But not only the doctor, but also the nursing staff and the volunteers must accompany the suffering person with all their preparation and human submission ".