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 for Award of Certificate:
Description of Course & Scheme of Study
This will be a 26-week certificate program.
Curriculum Outline:
The basics and advance management of palliative care will be divided into 4 modules.
This certificate program is of 12 credit hours; details are given in the table below.
Online Contact Session Sat/Sun
2 - 3 hours |
Self-study Weekly interactive learning of 2 hours |
Online Contact Session Sat/Sun
2 - 3 hours |
Self-study Weekly interactive learning of 2 hours |
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Module 1 |
Module 2 |
Module 3 |
Module 4 |
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1 week |
6 weeks (3 credit hrs) |
6 weeks (3 credit hrs) |
1 week |
6 weeks (3 credit hrs) |
6 weeks (3 credit hrs) |