Admissions Post Graduate Certificate In Palliative Care (Pg-Cpc) Session 2021 NUMS

• Organization: National University of Medical Science NUMS
• Testing Organization: National University of Medical Science NUMS
• Announcement Date: Tue 05 January, 2021
• Last Date: Wed 27 January, 2021

Introduction:

Palliative Medicine is one of the developing medical specialties. It has been recognized by World Health Organization (WHO) and defined as an approach that improves quality of life of patients and their families facing life-threatening illness through prevention and relief of suffering employing identification and impeccable assessment and treatment of pain and other problems as physical, psychosocial and spiritual.

In United Kingdom, General Medical Council has held doctors guilty of serious professional misconduct because they had been unable to provide Palliative Medicine or refer for specialist Palliative Medicine. The concept of Palliative Medicine is not new. In 460 BC, Hippocrates became the father of Medicine by providing simple symptom relief. In the modern world, many developed countries do not consider Cancer services provision appropriate until the services have the back up of Palliative Medicine teams. Many developing countries, including some Muslim countries, also recognize the need for Palliative Medicine.

In Pakistan, the concept of palliative care is like a new-born baby who needs a lot of attention. According to the Global burden of diseases (2010), it is estimated that by 2025 there will be 3.9 million deaths in people aged between 30 to 69 years in Pakistan due to NCDs including cardiovascular diseases, respiratory diseases, cancer, diabetes mellitus and mental health illnesses.

Low allocation of budget for healthcare services in a country with over 200 million population of which almost fifty percent people living below or close to the poverty line, lack of courses in medical training and drastic diversity in cultural changes demand this course, in Pakistan where the concept of palliative care in hospitals is in infancy stages, to be organized to equip and enrich our healthcare providers with the concept and hands-on training of palliative care.

Eligibility Criteria:

• 16 Years of Education in relevant discipline with:
  • MBBS/BDS (we strongly recommend interns, residents, primary health physician, doctors involved in Oncology/ICU patient care)
  • BS Nursing (nurses working in oncology, home health services, ICU, internal medicine or any other department involved in managing palliative care patients)
  • Doctor of Physiotherapy, Doctor of Pharmacy, BS/MS in Public Health, BS Social Sciences, BS Psychology, BS Behavioral Sciences, BS Anthropology and Allied Health Sciences.
• Valid registration with regulatory body, wherever applicable

Eligibility for Award of Certificate:

• Passing marks: 50% and above in final aggregate.

Course & Scheme of Study:

Description of Course & Scheme of Study

• This will be a 26-week certificate program.

  1. Blended learning (2 weeks duration): This methodology comprises of pre-recorded video lectures by foreign experts and interactive online teaching sessions.
  2. 24-week self-study model with once a week interactive session of 2 hours: Online learning of 24 weeks will be conducted via NUMS digital e-learning portal, accessible to faculty and participants through their personal accounts.

Curriculum Outline:

The basics and advance management of palliative care will be divided into 4 modules.

1. Introduction to Palliative Care
2. Ethical issues at the end of life
3. Public health and palliative care
4. Symptom management

This certificate program is of 12 credit hours; details are given in the table below.