Video Based Educational Modules

In the past few years, PECRA has been developing a multi-media educational curriculum using video clips from actual palliative care encounters between our Ugandan team of experts and Ugandan patients in order to educate local healthcare workers in several principles of palliative care.  Working closely with the documentary filmmaker Lucy Bruell, PECRA created several video-based modules that can be used in educational settings such as medical schools, nursing schools, and hospitals.  Work is ongoing to include more topics to be covered by the curriculum.   In order to disseminate this educational program, we have partnered with Pan African and Ugandan palliative care organizations such as The African Palliative Care Association and Hospice Africa Uganda that have the infrastructure to reach as many nurses and doctors on as broad a scale as possible.   These modules have been presented at international palliative care conferences and have been met with great success.

Patient Education Videos

Another initiative that is in development is patient education through videos distributed to local communities covering health topics that touch many people.  Last year we visited a young man with advanced cancer who was suffering in pain.  We treated his pain, but when we explored how much he and his father understood about his cancer and its treatment, they presented a booklet they received from the Uganda Cancer Institute at their first visit called, “Coping with Cancer, A Booklet for Cancer Patients.” When the boy was diagnosed, no explanation of his disease was given except handing the father the book.  “But we can’t read '', he explained to us.  Because of this visit, and many similar encounters by our team in the rural villages, this year PCFU engaged with US- and African-based filmmakers to begin developing a series of short videos in local languages explaining cancer, its treatment, the side effects of treatments and how these symptoms can be managed.  We presented the first completed video to the heads of the Uganda Cancer Institute and the African Palliative Care Association.  They loved it and we are now conducting a study with the Uganda Cancer Institute to study the impact these videos have on patients' experiences.  The African Palliative Care Association has plans to distribute it to many countries, but this will require dubbing in several languages.  More topics are planned for future videos. 

With the support of its donors, PCFU is able to provide all of this free of charge in these LMIC settings.

Healthcare Providers (Doctors, Nurses, Village Health Teams, Students)

Palliative Education and Care for Rural Africa (PECRA) recognizes that continued education of local healthcare providers is paramount to its mission of providing palliative care to the people in the rural areas of lower and middle income countries.  While initially this involved giving lectures and one-on-one demonstrations to local physicians and nurses on principles of palliative care, as time went on, we realized the need for further reaching techniques to train all healthcare workers to be able to provide self-sufficient and self-sustaining palliative care to the local population, both rural and urban. 

Patient Education

Working in impoverished areas with a low literacy rate we realized quickly that there was often a poor understanding by patients and their caregivers about their illnesses and treatments. Explanations by healthcare providers take time, something practitioners in an overwhelmed medical system don’t have a lot of. For that reason, PECRA is now developing 5 minute videos and audios that can be played on smartphones (something the Village Health Teams carry for their work) to show patients so that the ability to read becomes unnecessary. We have several other projects in the planning stages to educate local community dwellers in health related topics.

Some of our current projects:

Webinars for Lower and Middle Income Countries on Palliative Care Topics
A series of webinars on grief and bereavement has been developed by Randi and her  palliative care colleagues at Weill Cornell College of Medicine on palliative care topics. Collaborating with the African Palliative Care Association, each of these webinars have been attended by as many as 150 on-line participants from about 20 countries (many African but also attended by healthcare workers around the world including Nepal, Poland, Luxembourg, and Vietnam to name just a few, bringing new ideas and approaches to areas with limited resources where such information is not readily available. 

Educational Programs for Village Health Workers
Statistics show that close to 90% of palliative care needs are not met in many lower- and middle-income countries (LMICs) in Africa.  PECRA conducts in-person educational programs at rural hospitals and with village health workers to raise awareness of what palliative care is, what it can do for their communities, and how it can be accessed.  Presenting to over 200 people this past year, the Palliative Care Outreach Team has seen a 300% increase in referrals.  Consequently, PECRA is now paying to educate and support additional nurses in specialty palliative care training to cover the increased needs in the villages.