IAHPC Traveling Scholar's report
The 17th International Congress on Palliative Care, Montréal, Canada
By Dr. Jinxiang Li, Chengdu University, China
I would like to thank IAHPC for the financial support provided me to participate in this world conference on palliative medicine. It is an honor to have been selected. I enjoyed the congress and learned a lot of new information about palliative medicine.
I recognize the significant differences between the development of palliative medicine in developed and developing countries. The west has regarded palliative care as just another specialty, whereas people in developing countries, such as mine, have been discussing and debating whether palliative care is necessary and acceptable or not.
Here is list some of the seminars that I was particularly interested in:
- Healing and whole person care: palliative care - Just another specialty
- Opioid switching
- Living and dying at home – changing the face of community palliative care
- Cancer related fatigue: From bedside to bench
- The sedation flow sheet: A new instrument to guide the initiation, maintenance and monitoring of palliative sedation
- Clinical pathway development
- Advocacy for palliative care: Influencing policy at the local, national and international levels
- Advancing palliative care as a human right
- International issues – challenges and opportunities
I will digest the new information I gathered and use it in my palliative medicine practice and also make it available to my Chinese colleagues, medical students as well as physicians involved with palliative care in China. It is urgent that we establish a guideline for palliative sedation for my clinical practice. We have no standards and guidelines for palliative sedation although we have used palliative sedation in many cases. With regard to opioid switching, I need to discuss this important topic with my colleagues and improve our clinical skills of opioid titration. I completely agree with the concept offered at the meeting that Palliative Care is a Human Right and I will promote this with our health policy makers, citizens and government.
We are facing many challenges to the development on palliative care in China, and I appreciate the support provided by IAHPC which continues to motivate our work.
Thank you!
Dr. Jinxiang Li
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