The training sought to equip the palliative care providers from the hospitals that have integrated palliative care in the country with skills to enable them teach and mentor others.
This is due to the growing demand for palliative care services in the country as a result of a high number of patients and families faced with life threatening conditions that require palliative care.
The aim of the training is to increase the number of trainers in palliative care to spear head the agenda of enhancing palliative care education at their region and meet the demand for palliative care education.
On the last day of the training, the participants were split into groups where they were assigned topics that they prepared in power point presentation. A member from each group presented to the rest of the participants as a way of building their skills and gain confidence in training others.
Mwazi Batuli, a palliative care nurse at Hospice Africa Uganda was among the facilitators. She urged the participants to continue practicing what they have learnt for them to be experts in the field of palliative care education.
“I am glad to say that from the few presentations, you have shown that you can do it. Show people that you have become digital by using these power point presentations and remember to go through your presentations a day before going to train.” She advised.
The short course for the trainers entailed;
- Basic skills in teaching and how to make a presentation
- Skills of a good trainer
- Roles of a trainer
- Various teaching methods
- Class set up (Projection)
- Preparing for teaching
- Understanding various teaching styles and adult learning
The Eduation and Research Officer at KEHPCA, Dr Asaph Kinyanjui said that the main objective of the training was to equip the participants with the necessary knowledge, skills and attitude to enable them to become effective trainers.
“The growth of palliative care in Kenya from one palliative care provider 20 years ago to 47 sites currently creates a need for more trainers.” Dr Kinyanjui said.
He added that there is an increase in number of patients requiring palliative care hence the need to have more qualified providers.
Dr Kinyajui noted that there is a high turnover of staff/transfers in hospitals due to posting of new interns each year and the need to have a trainer at such facilities was paramount.
The launch of the higher diploma in palliative care course at Kenya Medical Training College (KMTC) has led to a need in placement sites with qualified trainers to act as supervisors and mentors hence the need to meet this high demand for palliative care training through such courses.
The training team also had a chance to receive feedback from the sites on the progress of the integration process, provision of services and challenges they are facing in order to find a way forward to improve palliative care service provision.
This article was first published on the KEHPCA blog.
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