FIRST SESSION: IDENTIFYING THE PROBLEMS, DIFFICULTIES, AND NEEDS
St Luke's Hospital, Tokyo, Friday 21 February 1997 (Evening)
INTRODUCTION TO SESSION 1
Dr Hinohara welcomed 13 participants from 10 countries to the Second Asia Pacific Hospice Network Meeting and asked Dr Cynthia Goh to act as chairperson for the meeting.
Dr Cynthia Goh accepted this invitation and thanked Dr Hinohara for his hospitality and his foresight in bringing together representatives from Japan, Hong Kong, Korea, Taiwan, Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, New Zealand and Australia. It was agreed that the meeting would be informal and would take the form of "brain storming".
Ms Joy Brann pointed out that the concept of an Asian Pacific Network had emerged two years ago when a similar meeting had been held in Japan under the auspices of the Life Planning Centre. It had been envisaged that the Network would give mutual support and encouragement to hospice programs which are developing in the region.
Dr Cynthia Goh said that the possible role of the Network would be discussed in this meeting followed by discussions about plans for the ongoing structure of the Network in the sessions to be held on Saturday, 22 February 1997.
The discussion then moved to outlining various problems which programs were encountering.
STAFFING
Dr Devaraj: "It is difficult for non-government organisations to recruit nurses."
EDUCATION
Dr Sunaryadi Tejawinata: "It is difficult to persuade doctors to accept the concept of palliative care.
Dr Co-Shi Chantal Chao: "There are too many lectures; not enough bedside teaching."
Mrs Nellie Fung: "The Hong Kong government wants to support palliative care but training of doctors and nurses in palliative care is limited. The Diploma of Palliative Medicine has credibility and is recognised by the College of Medicine. Nurses need courses in basic communication skills. There is also a need for public education to counteract taboos about death and dying and to reinforce the idea that palliative care is not about dying but about quality of life during the time that is left."
Dr Catherine Krings: "How do we teach 'care'?... Do we send key personnel overseas before starting a service or do we give short courses so that we can start the services and then send key personnel overseas so that they are able to train when they return,"
Dr Kashiwagi: "In Japan there is concern about standards of care, There was 56 hospices in Japan. Of these, 29 are government authorised hospices. However, there are not always consistent standards of care...There is an Organisation of Japanese Hospices and a Japanese Society of Palliative Medicine. There is a need to coordinate with those in mainstream medicine...We need to bridge the gaps between those who practise aggressive medicine, practitioners of geriatric medicine and those working in nursing homes.
