9th Annual Foundation Course in Palliative Care:

CanSupport organized its 9th Annual Foundation Course in Palliative Care on 23 & 24 January 2010 in collaboration with the Institute Rotary Cancer Hospital, AIIMS. The basic course was followed by 2 specialized courses - an Advanced Course in Palliative Care for Nurses on 30th Jan and a Workshop on Psychosocial Issues in Palliative Care on the 31st. The entire course was sponsored by the Bagri Foundation, UK.

We were delighted to have, as our Guest of Honour and Key Note Speaker for the inaugural session of the course, Dr. Nandini Hazarika, Pediatric Oncologist, Max Health Care. We felt especially supported by her inspiring address that reinforced the need of palliative care training amongst healthcare professionals as they feel overwhelmed by end of life needs that they are not equipped to meet and hence choose to ignore them than provide any support.

The course attracted more than 130 participants from diverse backgrounds within and outside Delhi, who, in their feedback, have expressed immense appreciation for the entire course. It was heartening to see the course being attended by 40% doctors, 52% nurses and 8% other profession participants. Understanding the importance of holistic care, most oncologists and anesthetists attending the first 2 days returned for the Nursing Course as well as the Workshop on Psychosocial Issues.

The 4-day course saw an assortment of 28 distinct sessions covering introduction to palliative care; ethics; pain & symptom management (using case studies); oncological emergencies, final hours of living; issues surrounding loss-grief-bereavement; seven sessions on different nursing care management issues including role of nurse as a care provider-educator-advocate-care manager and a constant with a therapeutic presence; basic communication guidelines for support during difficult conversation; special needs and care in pediatric and geriatric patients; family dynamics; psychological and emotional concerns; spirituality and healing; depression screening and management; role plays on a variety of patient/caregiver personality types that affect their quality of life; professional self care and music therapy.

Role Play on Communicating Bad News

 
Interfaith Workshop on Spiritual Care in Palliative Care

Two years ago, on the occasion of World Hospice and Palliative Care Day, CanSupport had organized a workshop titled: ‘Finding Meaning from Life in the Face of Death’. It was held in collaboration with the Foundation of Universal Responsibility of HH the Dalai Lama. As a follow up, CanSupport conducted a full-day workshop on Spiritual Care in Palliative Care on 6th February 2010 at the Indian Council of Social Science Research.

The workshop was led by Rev. John Lunn, a palliative care consultant and an ordained minister, who is currently at the Christian Medical College in Vellore. He gave an introductory session on ‘Spiritual Care and Healing’ defining the differences between spirituality and religion, meaning & purpose of spirituality, assessment of resources and challenges in providing spiritual care as well understanding of healing versus cure.

Other speakers included religious heads from different faiths ---  chiefly Swami Nikhilananda, Head of Chinmaya Mission and Fr. John Chathanatt, Vice President Indian Social Institute  ---  who, besides focusing on spiritual and religious beliefs that can help in coping with illness, suffering and dying, also share information on ritual practices and samskaras around dying and cremation/burial rites. Sister Agnes Panikulam, senior counselor and trainer at CanSupport, sploke about role of faith in bereavement and how it can assist in accepting the reality of death, experiencing pain of grief, adjusting to an environ where the deceased is missing, emotionally relocating the deceased and moving on with life.

The workshop ended with an hour-long reflection and experience sharing session by the participants, chiefly our home care teams.
 

Rev. John Lunn and Sr. Agnes Panikulam moderating an open session by participants at the Interfaith Workshop in Spiritual Care
 

CanSupport’s Bags Second Prize at Trichy Palcon 2010
CanSupport’s made its presence felt and acknowledged at the XVII International Conference of Indian Association of Palliative Care held at Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu in February 2010, as one of its research studies presented bagged the 2nd prize at the conference. This pilot study on depression screening and management in palliative care patients and caregivers was conducted by Dr. Ravinder Mohan, Jaspal Kaur and Pallika Chaudhary at the North West Delhi Centre.

Dr. Sanghamitra Bora from CanSupport also received encouraging feedback for her free paper presentation on ‘Barriers to successful delivery of home based palliative care.’