Introduction to PACED: An educational powerhouse

These are experts and participants of the PACED International Summer School held in Armenia in 2024, including the PACED team. Photo supplied by PACED. Used with permission.

By Roman Sklotskiy, Managing Director, PACED
and Inna Babina, Communications Director, PACED

PACED—The Foundation for Palliative Care Education, based in the United Kingdom, has been supporting palliative care professionals in the Baltic countries, Caucasus, Central Asia, and Eastern Europe in acquiring knowledge and exchanging experiences since 2017. In the past two years alone, 283 professionals from 32 countries participated in PACED educational events. They were physicians; nurses; psychologists; social care professionals; spiritual support specialists; heads of hospices, medical, and social institutions; and leaders of nonprofit organizations.

The following is a list of key activities that offered participants a wide range of opportunities to enrich their experience and skills:

Fifty professionals from Armenia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, and Uzbekistan met in Yerevan, Armenia, for this educational program with core themes that included palliative care philosophy, mobile services, symptom management, and communication skills.

This program supports professionals who wish to expand their expertise by attending global conferences, covering expenses like travel, accommodation, and registration. A total of 32 applications from eight countries were received. Yulia Streletskaya, head of the Respiratory Support and Palliative Care Centre at the Public Foundation Ömirge Sen in Kazakhstan, was selected; she attended the 6th Maruzza International Congress on Pediatric Palliative Care in Italy.

A webinar series focused on the status of palliative care in countries where PACED operates. Professional teams from Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, and Latvia shared their insights on developing systemic support for people with life-threatening illnesses or end-of-life conditions. Event recordings are available in English, Russian, and some local languages on PACED's YouTube channel. Also, detailed webinar summaries are online.

In collaboration with the International Children's Palliative Care Network (ICPCN), PACED organized a roundtable on "Paediatric Palliative Care: 100,000 Children in PACED Countries" with palliative care leaders from Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Latvia, and Uzbekistan. With expert support from Julia Downing, ICPCN's executive director, the zone of proximal development in pediatric palliative care was examined, followed by a discussion on how the international professional community can help overcome existing obstacles. 

Collaboratively Developed Culturally Appropriate and Inclusive Assessment Tool for Palliative Care Education, or CODE-YAA, is a European Union-funded project that aims to set "a gold standard for high-quality education and training in palliative care." It is part of the European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST) program. PACED's participation ensures that the interests of PACED countries are represented.

Every month, the PACED team publishes a digest of international news in palliative care and related fields that extends beyond PACED countries, to empower professionals from the countries we represent. Several articles have been republished in ehospice, a globally run news and information resource from the world of hospice, palliative, and end-of-life care.

Sign up for the PACED newsletter to stay updated on its educational activities. The Foundation team is open to collaboration and joint contributions to advance palliative care: contact PACED at [email protected].

Read more of this week's issue of Pallinews

Palliative Care for Professionals

Report by Alejandra Palma on an effective distance education system for health care professionals in Chile, sparked by the country's universal palliative care mandate.

Book Review

Intentionally Interprofessional Palliative Care is both a comprehensive textbook and practical guide, says reviewer Anna Keedwell.

IAHPC Tidbits

Clamoring for palliative care in Nepal, participation at a recent conference in China, & IAHPC retains Top-Rated Nonprofit status.

Plus

Two Surveys Underway An international survey of health care professionals is underway to understand how palliative care is provided for patients with heart failure. It is part of the Horizon-EU-funded RAPHAEL project. Those who work with patients with heart failure are invited to take this anonymous, five-minute survey.

An international survey about access to non-pharmacologic interventions for managing children's pain in palliative care, as well as regulatory limitations and barriers to providing quality pain relief to children, is being done by ICPCN and St. Jude's Global Palliative Care Program. Pediatric health care professionals are invited to take this survey, which requires a maximum of 15 minutes.

Like to Speak with Students? Interviews are being arranged in January between volunteers and Master's in Palliative Care students from a variety of health care fields studying in Germany and the Netherlands. Interviews are estimated to last around 30-45 minutes, and palliative care professionals around the globe are being sought as volunteers. If interested, contact [email protected].

IAHPC resources

Always available to all

Global Directory of Educational Programs in Palliative Care, a searchable, continually updated compilation with detailed listings.

Always available to members

Advanced Pain Assessment and Management Course consisting primarily of a discussion of clinical cases.