With Palliative Care Day just around the corner (8th October), we thought we’d update you all on the steps we’ve been taking this year spread knowledge about palliative care throughout Indonesia. On 26th March 2014, Rachel House hosted agroundbreaking Roundtable event, inviting key players in healthcare in Indonesia to come together and discuss the alternative pathways of introducing palliative care into nursing school curriculum in Indonesia. Dr. Suresh Kumar,Director of the WHO Collaborating Centre for Community Participation in Palliative Care and an expert on community-based palliative care, came from India to attend the discussion and to share his experiences.
The event brought together key influencers in healthcare in Indonesia with senior representatives from the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Education, major universities and hospitals across Indonesia, the heads of National Nursing Association, National Bachelor of Nursing and Diploma of Nursing Associations – to discuss ways of improving general knowledge about palliative care amongst medical professionals and the critical collaboration needed between stakeholders to make this possible.
Currently, palliative care is not well understood amongst healthcare professionals in Indonesia, with the majority of them unable to even define it. Rachel House’s homecare service that makes availablepalliative care for children in Jakarta’s poorest areas and its work in raising community awareness is largely unorthodox.
The event was a great success. Dr Suresh Kumar presented a compelling argument that with the increase of medical knowledge, more people will be living longer and may therefore require long term and dedicated palliative care. He advocated community-based palliative care to avoid hospitals being overburdened, mobilising volunteers in the local communities to care for the elderly and the infirm in their homes. This model echoes that of Rachel House’s Community Network in Palliative Care, which was piloted in 2013 in several neighbourhoods in Jakarta’s poorest areas – providing access to health assistance for those who may not have access to hospital care.
The roundtable discussion made important progress in underpinning the key issues that need to be addressed in Indonesia in order to improve access to palliative care. University representatives suggested there was a fundamental challenge today as many lecturers have little practical experience in palliative care and therefore are not able to pass the crucial knowledge of pain and symptom management onto their students. Therefore, many nurses feel overwhelmed when they begin practicing, avoiding patients who may need palliative care as they feel unequipped. The representatives from the Ministry of Health and Ministry of Education both acknowledged that changes need to be made to the syllabuses in universities to adequately prepare nurses, and training and development for professionals in hospitals are needed to help accommodate palliative care.
Everyone left the event with a real sense of excitement generated by mutual understanding and agreement, which gives hope to the possibility of palliative care being implemented in the healthcare system in Indonesia. It is now crucial for the participants to lobby support in each of their own constituents in order that palliative care can take root. It was a wonderfully positive day with the long-term dedication and behind-the-scenes work of Rachel House staff being recognized and supported by key bodies.
If you would like to help promote the message of palliative care, either bydonating funds, partnering with us, or offering your skills as a volunteer, please visit our GET INVOLVED page.