1st Research Conference on Palliative Care

Last Thursday, December 12th, the 1st Research Conference on Palliative Care took place in Madrid, organized by the Palliative Care Chair at Universidad Francisco de Vitoria and the Pía Aguirreche Foundation, with the support of SECPAL.
Representatives from Palliative Care Chairs across Spain, as well as other leading research groups, participated in the event. The goal of the conference was to share the structure, research lines, and projects of the chairs and lay the groundwork for future collaborations. The president of the Pía Aguirreche Foundation, José Galíndez, opened the event, highlighting the importance of research in Palliative Care as well as the need to convey the benefits of palliative care to society, so that society itself demands the availability of specialized Palliative Care wherever needed. Both Dr. Jacinto Bátiz and Dr. Javier Rocafort (directors of the Universidad Francisco de Vitoria Chair) emphasized the work carried out by chairs and research groups to improve knowledge in palliative care and the pressing need to improve undergraduate training in Palliative Care.
The WeCare Chair actively participated in the conference, with the presence of its directors, who summarized the chair’s trajectory since 2013 and highlighted the main ongoing research lines, such as the desire to hasten death (highlighting their leadership of the EAPC Task Force on the topic), the systematic assessment of needs in Palliative Care, the design of the European model for heart failure care with palliative care needs, and the emerging field of perinatal Palliative Care.
Additionally, the Chair’s teaching projects were highlighted, such as the Master’s Degree in Palliative Care and Support Needs, the course on Assessment and Response to the Desire to Hasten Death (ERDAM), among others. Finally, the immense task of promoting doctoral theses within the chair and its involvement in undergraduate training at UIC were noted.
During the event, SECPAL president Elia Martínez stressed the need for collaboration among all actors in the field of palliative care to achieve the main goal of recognizing the specialty in the disciplines of Medicine, Nursing, and Psychology, as well as securing recognition of Social Work as a healthcare profession. The president expressed her determination to promote research in Palliative Care within the framework of SECPAL.