On December 7 the international training on End of Life Nursing Education was launched in the conference hall of Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University. The seminar organized by the “Open Society Georgia” and Open Society Institute takes place for the first time in Georgia.
The nurses from Georgia’s existing hospices, home care services and different oncologic departments are participating in the seminar.
Alexander Kvitashvili, Acting Rector of the University and Law, Media, and Health Initiative Director Nino Kiknadze from OSGF led the opening part of the event. The seminar was chaired by the invited trainers from American Association of College of Nursing.
“Nowadays different accesible means of treatment are in place to ensure proper pain management and to avoid the factors that might be the reason for suffering not only for the patients with cancer, but for those having chronical diseases leading to the terminal stage, such as: cardiovascular diseases, stroke, Aids and etc. Many elderly people and children are facing this problem.The training is aimed at raising the qualification of the medicall staff and nurses with the assistance from American trainers, so that in the future they can support the improvement of quality of patients’s lives at terminal stage,”– Nino Kiknadze noted.
Recognizing the need of palliative care professionals and nurses the management of Iv. Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University plans to elaborate nursing curriculum which will involve palliative care as well.
“I think it is very important that professionals from American Association of College of Nursing share their experience
and knowledge. I believe that this training will make significant contribution to improving the knowledge of local medical personnel.Tbilisi State University is actively invovled in elaborating and implementing nursing curriculum in higher education where in the field of palliative care is of certain importance,”-stated Alexander Kvitashvili in his opening remark.
Introduction of palliative care in Georgia was first supported in 1999 by the Open Society Georgia Foundation and the Open Society Institute. With the support of the Foundation and with the assistance of the First Lady, foundation was laid to the palliative care as a system in Georgia, and this direction of medicine was actually activated. As the result of intensive work and advocacy, in 2007 the palliative care was given a legal status as a separate field and respective amendments were made to the Law on Healthcare.
Palliative care is the multi-profile care, which aims to relieve the pain of people ill with terminal diseases and to provide social and psychological aid and spiritual compassion to them. And the hospices are institutions where the people are provided with physical and moral support during the last days of their lives. Such diseases are: AIDS, cancer in the IV stage, Alzheimer, Parkinson, cardio-vascular and neurology diseases…These people are palliative patients, for which the only thing the medicine has left is to alleviate their condition, and these are the ones who need palliative care. There are thousands of people who need palliative care in Georgia today.
On October 9, 2010 the World Hospice and Palliatice Care Day was marked in Georgia for the first time.