As the world continues to be in the grip of the spreading Covid-19 pandemic, hospitals everywhere are scaling up palliative care resources for patients who have tested positive for the virus. Health workers need to receive focused training in order to provide the counselling and end-of-life care that is needed for critically ill patients and their families.
In this issue, we take an in-depth look at the online course on Palliative Care in Covid-19, PALLICOVID ECHO 2020. This course is offered by PalliCovidKerala under the banner of Project Echo, an initiative of Pallium India.
What is palliative care?
Palliative care is the treatment of serious health-related suffering. It involves the prevention, assessment and management of symptoms including pain, breathlessness and agitation and providing psychological, social and spiritual support.
What is the objective of this course?
This course will empower health care providers with the knowledge and skills necessary to relieve the suffering of patients with COVID-19 and their families. You will get the tools, resources and guidance you need to deliver the best possible care for people with terminal illnesses, and improve their quality of life to the maximum extent possible.
Who can participate in this course?
All trained health care providers, such as doctors, nurses and allied health professionals can attend this course.
What is the course duration?
The course is delivered over the duration of a 5-day week, from 3 PM to 4.15 PM on Monday to Friday.
How is the course delivered?
The course is delivered online, via ZOOM.
What are the advantages of undertaking this online course?
There are many significant advantages to undertaking this course. The duration is short, and hence it is well suited to busy professionals who have to spend only 1 hour and 15 minutes on 5 successive days. Information is distilled to include essential knowledge and skills for integrating palliative care into COVID-care.
What are the opportunities you can get on completion of this course?
Attending this short online course will pay rich dividends in terms of work satisfaction. You will be able to have the satisfaction of knowing that you have been able to offer comfort and solace to those who are suffering. You will be able to develop the compassion and mental strength required to take care of patients who are in the throes of pain, or are gasping to draw a breath. You can comfort a family member who is depressed because of having to watch a loved one suffer with the disease. There is no reward that is richer than being able to give selfless service to those who are desperately in care of support.
How can I join the online session?
ECHO sessions are conducted on the ZOOM video conferencing platform which can be downloaded for free from https://zoom.us/download