Type C – Dr Rene Krause – Evaluating Palliative Care training in the oncology registrar program
Dr Rene Krause
Dr Rene Krause
- School of Public Health and Family Medicine, University of Cape Town
Title of the project
Evaluating Palliative Care training in the oncology registrar program
Project Description
- train oncology registrars using a formalised Palliative Care curriculum developed by the University of Cape Town for the South African context.
- Measure the impact of formally trained clinicians.
Research and discussion in oncology have indicated the need for formalised Palliative Care (PC) training for clinicians. Internationally PC is already included in oncology curriculums and has demonstrated favourable outcomes (Cherny, Catane, Schrijvers, Kloke & Strasser, 2010). The rationale of this project is to refine the formal PC course, and evaluate the impact of a one year course in Palliative Medicine on the oncology registrar curriculum in South Africa.
First Workshop
Fltr: Prof. Parks; Dr Bresick; Dr Krause; Dr Elkoha; Dr Ooko; Dr Van Jaarsveld; Dr Burger; Dr Gwyther; Dr Anderson; Dr Mafanya; Dr Rampurtab; Ms. Ganca
The project was launched in May 2017 and Dr Melissa Wallace, Head of Research was invited to attend the first day of the workshop of the training of facilitators on the project. The workshop was very successful and did not only highlight the great need for PC training but for support in general. CANSA was thanked for making this possible. The course started on 26 June with facilitators and 31 July with the students. All the facilitators had an opportunity to familiarise themselves with the site and the materials.
Ten of the 12 modules have thus far been completed. Module one commenced on 1 August 2017. The registrars are currently working on module 3: Breaking Bad News
Value for CANSA
While CANSA does not fund the development of therapeutic drugs for cancer, we do aim to provide better support for cancer patients through the research we fund. This project is directly in line with this aim, and is addressing a much neglected area in South Africa. In addition, the Palliative Care Act is likely to be passed this year, so this project is timely and it is imperative to ensure Oncologists are better trained in this area, and that the training is evaluated in order that it can be improved and optimised.
