We would like to share with you the story of Ayda, an oncology nurse clinician and educator with a subspecialty in Medical Oncology and Palliative Care since 1977.
Ayda is just one of many inspiring nurses and doctors highlighted in the report published called Palliative Care – Celebrating Nurses Contributions
Realising the huge gap in oncology care, she moved back from the USA to the Philippines. She is the Training Consultant for The Ruth Foundation (TRF), a non-profit NGO that provides free palliative care services to the poor and palliative care training to health care workers in the Philippines. Prior to this, she worked as the Curriculum Developer for Cure4Kids, the education portal of the Department for Global Paediatric Medicine at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee. She was an American Cancer Society summer fellow in Oncology Nursing at Georgetown University and a long-time trainer for the End-of-Life Nursing Education Consortium (ELNEC).
At TRF, her work includes localising the ELNEC content to fit the culture, practice and resources of the Philippines and serving as a training resource. Together, they are developing a project that will help integrate palliative care into the undergraduate curriculum, using the ELNEC course. She has also successfully implemented an institutional based programme for Advanced Practice in Oncology and Palliative Care in one of the major hospitals in Manila. In 2005, she oversaw the development and implementation of the www.Cure4Kids. org initial version of Paediatric Oncology Nursing Course and used ELNEC for the section on Palliative Care. The course was translated to Spanish and Arabic and can now be accessed globally online. As faculty at the UABSON, she implemented a clinical rotation where the students experienced what it was like to be an Advanced Practice Nurse who was a key member of the Palliative Care Team, both in the inpatient unit and in the community.
Changing the mindset of many Pilipinos that equate palliative care to hopelessness and inevitable death, coupled with a culture that considers death as bad luck, is a major challenge. Other challenges include financial factors, lack of governmental support and professional Ayda is an oncology nurse clinician and educator with a subspecialty in Medical Oncology and Palliative Care since 1977. Realising the huge gap in oncology care, she moved back from the USA to the Philippines. She is the Training Consultant for The Ruth Foundation (TRF), a non-profit NGO that provides free palliative care services to the poor and palliative care training to health care workers in the Philippines. Prior to this, she worked as the Curriculum Developer for Cure4Kids, the education portal of the Department for Global Paediatric Medicine at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee. She was an American Cancer Society summer fellow in Oncology Nursing at Georgetown University and a long-time trainer for the End-of-Life Nursing Education Consortium (ELNEC). At TRF, her work includes localising the ELNEC content to fit the culture, practice and resources of the Philippines and serving as a training resource. Together, they are developing a project that will help integrate palliative care into the undergraduate curriculum, using the ELNEC course. She has also successfully implemented an institutional based programme for Advanced Practice in Oncology and Palliative Care in one of the major hospitals in Manila. In 2005, she oversaw the development and implementation of the initial version of Paediatric Oncology training. Although these challenges appear unsurmountable, Ayda believes that over time, they are slowly meeting them as educated, trained health care providers delivering efficient and compassionate care.
An important learning for Ayda is the affirmation of why she chose to be a nurse and what a sacred privilege it is. Although nursing has proven its professional worth, she believes that there is still much to be done. She believes that the next generation of nurses should continue the work in forging that the pivotal professional, not only in palliative care but health care in general, is the nurse
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