By Grace Kivumbi | Project Manager
In the past months of February, March, April and May 2024 our clinical team alongside the volunteer social workers have continued to provide care to our patients in both the Mulago National Referral Hospital and Kirrudu National Referral Hospital.
Your support of our work has tremendously contributed to the care that we provide to our patients and their families and we remain grateful.
Patient demographics:
In this period, we have cared for 179 new patients alongside 24 patients carried forward from the previous period from both Mulago and Kiruddu hospitals, our clinical team including the social work volunteers and the students that we have rotating in the unit at the time made physical contacts with these patients for 4,855 times and also provided care and support by the phone with 1,681 calls during these months, the phone calls support ongoing consultation, counselling and bereavement support to the families of patients who have either been discharged or have died.
Education activities
We continue to provide education and training to medical students, post graduate medical students as well as mentorship and support supervision to those already in service.
In this period, we have hosted and provided training to the following categories on students.
Uganda Children Palliative Care Nurse Leadership Fellowship Program (UCPCNLFP)
0n 18th June we held a virtual follow of our participants on the Uganda Children’s Palliative Care Nurses Leadership Fellowship Programme (UCPCNLFP) to review participants workplans and how they are generally getting on. This programme aims to develop leaders within children’s palliative care in Uganda and ultimately improve the quality of life of those children needing palliative care and their families.
The initiative was launched in October 2022 and is running until August 2024. This impactful program utilizes a dynamic blended learning approach, combining both face-to-face and virtual training sessions and clinical mentorship.
It is being run by a partnership between the University of Edinburgh, the Palliative care Education and Research Consortium (PcERC) and the International Children’s Palliative Care Network (ICPCN), funded through a grant by the Burdett Trust for Nursing. We will have the final face to face training and stakeholders’ meeting in August 2024.
Advanced Diploma in Palliative care Nursing (ADPCN):
Between 15th April- 10th May we hosted 14 students who are undertaking the Advanced Diploma at Mulago Nursing school, during this placement we offered mentorship and hands on experience for each of the participant working alongside our specialized Palliative Care team.
At the end of their placement, we carried out an evaluation and the results showed increased and improved knowledge and skills in palliative care and that the students are now able to apply the theory learnt from class into practice; with specific focus on pain and symptom management and effective communication (breaking bad news). Below we share some of the quotes.
“Palliative care team should conduct CMEs and sensitizations of primary care teams to eliminate misconceptions of PC services including pain management because they think PC is for the dying and also comes as a last resort when there is no other option” Cathy ADCPN student
“Great thanks to my mentors for the great work they have done to impact knowledge and also promising to become a better palliative care nurse. When I came in did not know much but I am happy that I have learnt and promising to be better” Immaculate, ADPCN student
Hosting international colleagues:
We have been so privileged to host Christine our Clinical Lecturer from Malaysia between 15th April-30th June 20, 2024, she has just completed her PhD Nursing from Austria and she has contributed so much to our team.
In the month of May, we also hosted Prof. Sulitan (Pharmacist) and Dr. Salama (Clinical Oncologist) from Jimma University medical school, Ethiopia, they came through our collaboration with Hospice Africa Uganda and were on a visit to learn about provision of Palliative care in a university teaching hospital.
Research activities:
We have now received the approval from the Mulago Ethics committee for the following research projects.
We now await approval from the Uganda National Council for Science and Technology and thereafter data collection for this research will commence.
Below there are some pictures from our clinical and educational activities:
Picture 1: Our clinical care team caring for our paediatric patient and his family
Picture 2: Participants of the ADCPN during a clinical mentorship with their facilitator during their rotation in the unit
Picture 3: Our facilitators; Florence, Liz and Christine at the 1 day virtual follow up of the Uganda Children Palliative care Nurse Leadership Fellowship program (UCPCNLF).
Picture 4: The PcERC/MMPCU team describes our services to our visitors from Ethiopia
We hope you have enjoyed reading our update! If you have any questions or feedback, please do send us an email at info.pcerc@gmail.com
Best wishes,
The PcERC/MMPCU team.
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