This track seeks to highlight evidence and best practices that touch on equitable access and inclusivity to the continuum of palliative care throughout the life course. This care starts from diagnosis, across curative and active treatment and management, to rehabilitative, and, sometimes transcends through the end of life care, bereavement, and family support.
Palliative care has largely been associated with certain conditions and limited to a group of patients. This conference seeks to highlight this limitation. The patient inclusivity lens will seek to expand the scope of palliative care and present evidence of its benefit to WHOEVER is in need of the care, regardless of their diagnosis. These may include but not limited to:
- Palliative care for all (at risk/ minority/) groups: marginalized and refugee groups, the Elderly, Perinatal and paediatric care, Youth, persons with disability, persons with psychiatric conditions.
- Palliative care in different conditions: Non-Communicable Diseases, Infectious and non-infectious, Congenital and acquired conditions, Mental health conditions, Comorbidities
Palliative care needs are multidimensional, incorporating the physical, psychological, social, and spiritual aspects. These needs are best addressed through a multidisciplinary team that include health care professionals, family, volunteers, and other support such as legal practitioners and allied professionals. Inclusivity for caregivers will highlight that palliative care can be provided by WHOEVER is relevant at the point of need, highlighting the different providers and their roles in ensuring the provision of holistic care. This theme will also focus on stakeholder partnerships and collaborations to maintain system access for patients to access holistic care. Key themes include:
- Health care professionals: doctors, nurses, ,clinical officers, physiotherapists, pharmacists, art therapists, social workers among others
- Non-health care professionals – Legal, Spiritual
- Caregiver and family members involvement-Patient centred care, Patient led advocacy
- Community heath teams: CHAs, community volunteers, families and informal caregivers
- Survivorship & reintegration (rehabilitation/navigation/ follow up/ evaluation/family support/ supportive care)
- Alternative and complementary medicine players
Patient centered care
Palliative care has mostly been linked to end-of-life care and terminal stage rather than complementary care to any patient with life-threatening or life-limiting conditions, who are experiencing health-related suffering. We seek to highlight evidence and best practices that touch on the continuum of palliative care as being provided WHENEVER the patient needs it starting from diagnosis, through complementing curative and active treatment strategies, through to death, bereavement and family support. Key themes include:
- Service delivery
- Value of initiating palliative care at diagnosis.
- Role of palliative care during treatment and curative intent
iii. Palliative care at end of life and bereavement
- Quality Improvement/ Best practises
The national health insurance fund acknowledges that the settings of healthcare are wider than the facility level, thus Palliative care can be provided WHEREVER the patient is. We seek to share lessons learned from different settings and models of palliative care provision to meet the needs of different patients and to achieve universal health coverage. Main themes are
- Models of palliative care provision – standalone, integrated, specialist etc.
- Settings of palliative care – home, humanitarian, hospital (Inpatient/outpatient), virtual
Leave A Comment