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Being the skilled palliative care
physician is one job but teaching this
subject to someone else is very much
another. For that reason The Marie Curie
Palliative Care Institute from Liverpool
and Professor John Ellershaw organized
Training for Teachers in Palliative
Medicine Course. This was not the course
about palliative medicine but about how
to teach palliative medicine. As the
palliative medicine is patient-oriented
this course was student-oriented, by
placing the student in the centre of
learning process. Also, it was tailored
for adult learners.
The first course regarding training for
teachers in palliative medicine was
organized in 1994 by Dr. Robert Twycross
and Dr. Neil MacDonald in the
Netherlands. Since then many doctors
have underwent the courses worldwide.
Course was organized for doctors who are
experienced in palliative care and
involved in palliative medicine teaching
either at undergraduate or postgraduate
levels.
 There
were about 20 participants, mostly from
UK and Ireland, but from New Zealand,
China, Slovenia and Serbia, too.
During the course we had opportunity to
learn about different students’ learning
styles and learning cycle. This
knowledge enables teachers to organize
more attractive and more useful
learner - centered sessions. Teaching
techniques and teaching tools suitable
for interactive teaching were presented
and practiced.
It was particularly useful course for
all of us who came from countries where
didactic teaching was still the most
common style of teaching and where
palliative care and palliative medicine
was not part of regular curricula in
nursing or medical schools. We learnt
how to organize presentations, sessions
or whole courses about palliative
medicine.
Course was demanding one but we had some
fun, too. As the illustration that
learning might be a great fun you can
find enclosed the photo of our teachers
demonstrating a role-play technique for
us at the very end of the course.
Natasa Milicevic, MD
Centre for Palliative Care and
Palliative Medicine “BELhospice”
Belgrade, Serbia |
