On 13 and 14 May 2024, forty-six delegates from around the world came together at the Yusuf Hamied Centre, Cudeca Institute for Training & Research, in Málaga, Spain, for the International Collaborative for Best Care for the Dying Person’s annual Summer School.
Summer School is always a highlight of the International Collaborative's calendar, the 2024 event was no exception. Monday began with welcome speeches from Dr Yusuf Hamied, Dr Marisa Martín Roselló, and Professor John Ellershaw, before an enlightening plenary from Professor Agnes van der Heide on the results of the Collaborative's iLIVE project (Living Well, Dying Well: A research programme to support living until the end). Delegates were then invited to participate in workshops focused on four themes:
Care for the Dying: The 10/40 Model for Best Care for the Dying Person;
Research in the International Collaborative;
National Benchmarking in Care for the Dying;
Education and Training.
The day concluded with a wonderful welcome dinner at a beachside restaurant in Benalmádena, which allowed delegates to relax after a busy day and network with colleagues from as far afield as Australia and Argentina, Iceland and India.
On Tuesday morning we began with a self-connection meditation in the sunshine, led by Thai author Tew Bunnag, before learning from Professor Naveen Salins about the engagement of palliative care in ICUs in a low-resource setting. Dr Vilma Tripodoro and Catarina Simões then chaired the oral presentations from submitted abstracts. Associate Professor Mark Boughey also delivered an inspiring plenary that explored means of improving care for the dying beyond the implementation of the 10/40 Model. Workshops then continued for the rest of the day, with closing reflections led by Professor John Ellershaw.
Prizes were awarded for Best Oral Abstract and Best Poster. Mary Nevin of Dublin City University, Ireland, won Best Oral Abstract for her presentation “Identification of Core Indicators to Integrate a Palliative Approach in Hospitals – An International Delphi Study”, while Dr Vilma Tripodoro of Instituto Pallium Latinoamerica, Argentina, took Best Poster for her work entitled “The role of rituals in humanising the dying process: tensions between politics and culture across the pandemic in five Latin American Countries”. All judges commented on the high quality of the oral and poster presentations, a testament to the quality of work being undertaken by colleagues within the Collaborative.
Workshops at Summer School this year have led to the creation and potentiation of as many as 15 new Project Groups for the Collaborative, which is a great achievement. We look forward to communicating more about these exciting developments in due course.
The Executive Committee would like to thank Dr Marisa Martín Roselló and the organising team at Fundación Cudeca for hosting Summer School, and for their time and dedication in delivering such a hugely successful event.
We will return to Málaga for Summer School on 12 and 13 May 2025 – be sure to save the date so that you can join us.
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