Education and training
The Cicely Saunders Institute sits at the heart of the Denmark Hill campus of King's College London and is the new home of its Department of Palliative Care. Since their inception 12 years ago the inter-professional postgraduate courses run by the Department in collaboration with St. Christopher's Hospice have earned a national and international reputation.
The Postgraduate Certificate, Postgraduate Diploma and the MSc in Palliative Care courses are specifically designed to appeal to the future leaders of palliative and end of life care. This may be in clinical or social care, or in teaching and research. The aim of all the courses is to help students develop their skills necessary to critically appraise research and evidence on palliative care, and to improve clinical practice and lead services.
The courses are inter-professional because we wish to reflect the inter-professional nature of palliative care and provide an opportunity for different professionals to learn together and importantly from each other. We believe the different working experiences and cultures students bring with them greatly enhances the learning experience.
"The course helps reduce any possible stereotypes and challenges misperceptions."
Specialist Registrar in Palliative Medicine: UK
The MSc and PG Certificate and Diploma have attracted a wide range of profession groups from all over the world including Denmark, Germany, Iceland, Holland, Italy, Norway, in addition to Hong Kong, India, the Philippines, Japan, Taiwan, Uganda and the USA. The added-value of the course has been considerable. At a local level they have changed their own clinical practice and that of their colleagues in the delivery of evidence based care and they have shaped palliative care policy and service delivery at national and international levels. Many of our former students have gone onto successfully publish their research study projects in peer reviewed journals including the Lancet Infectious Diseases, the British Medical Journal and Social Science and Medicine among others. Others have shared their research findings at international scientific meetings. A growing number of alumni have successfully undertaken PhDs developing considerable research and clinical expertise in their respective fields.
"Everyone had something very important to contribute. I learned a lot from my nurse classmates, from the sociologist lecturer, from the general practitioners, psychiatrist and other specialists."
Consultant Paediatrician: Philippines