Awareness building and improving participation of local communities in palliative care
Abstract
Many people are experiencing serious health-related suffering that would benefit from palliative care. However, this service is inaccessible or underdeveloped in many parts of the world. One of the main starting points for introducing or developing palliative care services is improving awareness and participation in palliative care in the community. A group of clinicians from diverse backgrounds discussed how to implement this and this paper is a culmination of ideas arising from these conversations. For awareness building, social media campaigns, awareness at food festivals, national palliative care day programs, sharing stories and testimonials to stimulate conversations regarding palliative care and a “human library” project were described. For improving community participation, community volunteer development programs, the “adopt a grandma” initiative, medical student palliative care project, workshops and training for non-communicable diseases and community nursing cross-specialty collaborations are suggested. It is hoped that these proposals will stimulate further ideas and support the implementation of palliative care in different settings.
Keywords: awarenesscommunitynursingpalliative careparticipation
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