Workshop on Palliative Care and Communication Skills held in Shillong

A CORRESPONDENT

SHILLONG: A workshop on ‘Palliative Care and Communication Skills – Bridging the Gap’ was organized by the Department of Anaesthesiology and Critical care in collaboration with CNE (Cell) NEIGRIHMS recently. Chief guest Gilly Burn, a palliative care nurse-pioneer from the UK, said that she was very passionate about communication in patient care sessions.

According to her, a person has to be involved while providing palliative care even as she added that nursing has a huge impact on the patients and play an important role in making people feel at home.

Urging the nurses to make a difference, Burn said, “A machine is a machine and you can train anyone to operate a ventilator. The fact is you cannot train a monkey to be compassionate. That is why the nurses are important in Palliative Care.” She was one of the main persons in setting up the ‘Indian Association of Palliative Care’.

Director NEIGRIHMS Prof (Dr) DM Thappa lauded the role of nursing in palliative care, particularly in terminally-ill patients. “There is a need for empathy towards the patients,” Prof (Dr) Thapa said. He spoke on the problems people face as patients who are diagnosed with cancer. According to the Director, the main problem when one is diagnosed with cancer is breaking the news, telling them of the outcome. He reminded the participants to always give hope to the persons concerned and help them to cope with whatever comes.

Prof (Dr) Bhattacharya, HOD Anaesthesiology and In charge Palliative Care unit in NEIGRIHMS spoke about CNE not being merely a teaching or training session but it must have an impact on the participants when they learn new things from workshops to be put into practice. “Let us come together and take the burden of patients suffering. Let us share the joys and sorrows with the people suffering from cancer,” the HOD said.

The main topics at the workshop included a concept of palliative care and communication, nursing assessment, pain control in palliative care, the importance of end of life care and the roles of nurses and communication skills.

There was also a screening of a movie inspired by a true story, centered on a 27-year-old person who learns of his cancer diagnosis, and his subsequent struggle to beat the disease. Participants, who attended the workshop included doctors, medical and social workers besides nurses from various hospitals.