The Program for Global Palliative Care Education

We are spearheading several educational initiatives in collaboration with partners in Africa and at our home institution:

• Video-based Educational Modules for Palliative Care Training of Healthcare Workers in LMICs.
  • Created in partnership with our colleagues on the Saint Francis Naggalama Palliative Care Outreach Team, these modules are based in palliative care interactions in rural Uganda and focus on teaching PC communication skills to health workers. We are partnering with the Institute for Palliative Care Education in Africa at Hospice Africa Uganda where they are using these modules as part of their curriculum.
     
• In-person educational programs about Palliative Care for health workers and volunteer village health workers at rural hospitals in Uganda with limited internet access.
   
• Educational webinar series in collaboration with the African Palliative Care Association for health workers with internet access across the African continent and beyond. Participants have joined from 24 countries in Africa and 24 additional countries around the world.
  • Our NYPH Palliative Care social work colleagues have led a series of webinars on grief and bereavement. Webinar content was continually informed by what we learned from the participants. Specific webinar topics have included an Introduction to Grief, Bereavement and Grief Theory, How to Talk to Someone Who Has heard Bad News, Helping Grievers Grieve, and Grief Interventions 
  • Our Pediatric Advanced Care Team led a webinar on Children and Grief
  • Our Palliative Care chaplains and colleagues led a webinar on Spirituality and Palliative Care
     
• Culturally adapted patient education videos developed with our partners in Uganda targeting educational needs of the Ugandan patient population.
  • Inspired by the need and wish for more information by many patients we see in rural Uganda, we have begun to develop accessible patient education videos addressing common illnesses for which patients are enrolled into palliative care.
     
• Global Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine Grand Rounds for our faculty and learners.

Over the past several years learners including Hospice and Palliative Medicine fellows, Geriatrics fellows and WCM medical students have been involved in our global palliative care track.  Trainees participate in a 2–4-week clinical immersion experience with the Saint Francis Naggalama Palliative Care Outreach Team. While in Uganda, they also have the opportunity to visit Hospice Africa Uganda, the Palliative Care Unit at the Mulago National Referral Hospital and the African Palliative Care Association. In addition, they participate in a year-long global health education series hosted by the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine.

Our Program in Global Palliative Care Education includes the lived experience of immersion into another culture and being embedded with a local palliative care team in a LMIC. This opportunity is an excellent way to develop an understanding of the needs, limitations, and unique challenges of palliative care delivery in LMICs. The immersion also serves to enhance understanding of the experience of being the outsider in an unfamiliar culture, valuable for professional development and to enhance our practice with our diverse patient populations in the New York metropolitan area, a commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion. In addition, the experience of joining a palliative care team in another culture helps to finesse listening and observation skills which translate into improved patient interactions wherever we are in the world.

Palliative care programs require advocacy to ensure that policies and regulations support access to palliative care services. Our Program continues to work with nongovernmental advocacy organizations who are working with local governments to ensure the ongoing success of palliative care programs in different communities.

As palliative care delivery and education continues to evolve in LMICs, an evidence-based approach reflecting local norms is crucial. The WCM Division of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine is well situated to contribute to the advancement of a joint palliative care research agenda, and we continue to build our collaborative relationships with established palliative care researchers in LMICs. Currently, our Program is working with the African Palliative Care Association, the Palliative Care Association of Uganda and the Uganda Cancer Institute on joint research and QI projects involving our patient education videos. Past research has been presented at the International African Palliative Care Conference, the Uganda Conference on Cancer and Palliative Care, and at the International HepatoPancreaticoBiliary Association World Conference.

For more information about the Program for Global Palliative Care Education at the Weill Cornell Medicine Division of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine, please contact:

• Randi R. Diamond, M.D.
  Director, Program for Global Palliative Care Education
  rrd2002@med.cornell.edu
   
• Benjamin Schwarz, M.D.
  Assistant Director, Program for Global Palliative Care Education
  ndy9002@med.cornell.edu

• Navendra Singh, M.D.
• Lawrence Asprec, M.D.
• Jemella Raymore, M.D.
• Peggy Murphy, LCSW, APHSW-C 
• Kimberly Hong, LCSW
• Kaile Eison, D.O.