Learning beyond the classroom: what the EAPC congress can give you as a student

Posted on January 20, 2026 by pallcare

The EAPC 20th World congress will take place in Prague, Czech Republic on the 14th-16th May 2026. By opening the congress to a broader, more diverse community, we are looking forward to strengthening connections, sharing more experiences and creating a truly global space for learning and collaboration. The EAPC are proud to offer a discounted rate for undergraduate students (bachelor level and first degree) and warmly welcome them to the congress. For today’s blog, we hear from Aahana Dudani about the benefits of attending the congress as a medical student.

Aahana Dudani

Attending the European Association for Palliative Care’s World congress as a medical student was a formative experience that deepened my understanding and appreciation of the practice of palliative care. Bringing together clinicians and researchers from all over the world, the congress sought to explore cutting edge, best practice models of palliative medicine through three days of plenaries, break-out sessions and poster presentations in the gorgeous city of Helsinki. As a student still shaping my professional identity, this experience offered a rare opportunity to engage with a melting pot of diverse ideas, and to engage directly with the very researchers and clinicians at the forefront of these initiatives.

One of the most valuable aspects of the conference was exposure to the breadth of palliative care, with the academic program being full to the brim. At my medical school, we receive geriatrics teaching, but we have very limited palliative care teaching – so the congress was a rare insight into complicated issues such as palliative sedation, culturally sensitive end of life care and paediatric palliative care, topics that I otherwise wouldn’t have had access to or explored. The conference was instrumental in impressing upon me just how interdisciplinary palliative care as a field is – with projects and talks spanning psychology, sociology, ethics and public and global health. Hearing from professionals across disciplines made me realise just how collaborative the field is, and the importance of such holistic approaches to suffering and end of life care.

Based at Oxford University in the United Kingdom and researching how to improve ethics support for palliative care physicians, it was my first time attending an international conference and certainly one of this size with over 2000 delegates. One of my personal highlights was the conversations I got to have with researchers about their posters, for which we got time to do in between the plenaries. This kind of networking with professionals from all over the world allowed me to connect with colleagues that had similar interests to me in the moral value of consciousness, the evidence implementation gap for health policy, and providing care in resource poor settings. Learning from professionals who had many years of experience either in research or clinical practice allowed me to gain insight into potential interdisciplinary career pathways and seek out research opportunities. Especially as I was a student, I found there was much curiosity about my research interests, and an eagerness to mentor and collaborate. Many were generous in sharing their own experiences and advice about working in clinical palliative care but also more broadly seeking to improve outcomes – which strengthened my own resolve to pursue a dual career in clinical medicine as well as in academia, particularly at the intersection of medicine and bioethics.

Overall, I felt very welcome at the EAPC congress, and found that the sessions were diverse and interesting, with plenty of time in between them (and the social activities!) to get to know and learn from other delegates one-on-one. I found it inspiring how conferences such as the EAPC congress brings such passionate and committed clinicians and researchers together to learn and collaborate on a global scale. Attending the conference was certainly a highlight of my academic year and has inspired me to contribute to ongoing conversations and research about how medicine can respond more humanely to suffering and to continue my work in this area.

The EAPC congress brings together the world’s leading palliative care experts, providing a key international platform to learn, network and share knowledge and research. It offers networking and a high quality educational experience, allowing participants to discover both innovative long term strategies and solutions to challenges they meet in everyday practice. The congress will bring together ideas and innovations aimed at improving the way we work, teach and learn – and together we will help shape the future of palliative care around the globe. 

Register now (early bird on a student rate until 28th February 2026).

About the author

Aahana Dudani is a final year medical student at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia. In 2025, she completed her honours year at the University of Oxford, receiving a high distinction for her thesis titled Ethical Scaffolding in End-of-Life Care: Moral Distress and the Limits of Clinical Guidance. Aahana’s interests are intersectional – spanning medicine, global and public health, bioethics and health justice. After completing medical school, she intends to study physician training and continue research in bioethics and health policy.

Posted in EAPC ACTIVITIES, EAPC World Congresses, EDUCATION & TRAINING | Leave a comment

Eating for pleasure, not pain

Posted on January 13, 2026 by pallcare

Many health and social care professionals contribute to palliative care – but a dietician may not be a role that first comes to mind.  For our palliative stories blog series, Raphaëlle Rouhier, a nutritionist specialising in palliative care, tells us the difference she and her colleagues make to people with life limiting illness.

Table with food and hands of people eating
Photo credit: Cécile Moulin

Something more than the absence of pain—like added pleasure, for example—is undoubtedly needed to restore a certain quality of life.This is what palliative care nutrition is all about!

I am a nutritionist specialising in palliative care. My work involves consultations, cooking workshops and leading shared meal activities for patients. My role differs from that of a dietitian: I do not handle enteral or parenteral nutrition, nor do I prescribe dietary supplements. I provide nutritional advice and organise therapeutic meals.

The majority of patients I meet lack appetite. This can be due to oral pain problems, digestive or sensory discomfort such as a change in taste, or a complete lack of zest for life: some no longer have the heart to please their family by eating or have lost the idea of finding pleasure in eating for themselves. The violence of the illness has shattered hopes and plans, and food seems futile to them. It is sometimes also a reaction against the insistence of relatives trying to make the person eat. The refusal to eat then reflects their revolt against the loss of autonomy.

We have to be very creative to ensure that food once again becomes a source of pleasure, desire and consequently, hope. This is why it is so crucial to provide nutritional support to people as early as possible. A nutritionist does not solely manage undernutrition; they establish a good care relationship and contribute to the person’s overall quality of life throughout their care. To achieve this, in addition to nutritional advice, I use different tools:

Shared Meals and Cooking Workshops

Patients who’d like to are welcome to have lunch with us. We host them in a large room featuring an open kitchen. Our constant goal is to bring back the enjoyment and pleasure of eating, making the meal a great opportunity for sharing. The atmosphere, the colours, the good cheer, and the smells encourage everyone, even those who find it difficult to eat. Patients exchange tips, recipes, memories – and they take care of each other. They often bring a homemade cake for the next shared meal!

Choosing food and tasting artisan ice cream

Nutrition holds a central place in the quality of the care relationship. Nourishing someone who depends on us is an instinctive act, as accepting to be fed can be only once mutual trust is established.

Serving food from a lovely serving cart allows people to choose what they will taste and how much they wish to eat. This necessarily requires a spoken exchange with the person bringing the meal, and this moment of exchange improves trust, autonomy and quality of care. We also offer ice creams in multiple flavours and colours. They choose the flavour they want and the ice cream is served in a nice cup. It soothes oral pain, revives memories, restores taste and provides pleasure! Few people refuse this simple pleasure.

Letter to relatives

In France, the issue of food is closely linked to the quality of life. Someone who eats well is often called a ‘bon vivant’ (‘good living’ – someone who enjoys life, especially good food and drink). So a poor eater would be poor living? Once, a patient told me, ‘My husband is absolutely stuffing me!’. Her husband, out of kindness, was forcing her to eat more than usual to soothe his own anxieties. She was gaining weight while losing morale. I wrote my first letter to this man, to explain why a sick body doesn’t absorb food like a healthy one and how he could help his wife eat properly.

The entire objective of nutrition in palliative care is entirely focused on the quality of life. And life has quality when life has meaning. We must absolutely understand this goal of pleasure and consider food as relieving suffering rather than as a therapy aimed at prolonging life. It is crucial to remember how essential it is to watch for the appetite for life, and to see where it resides.

About the author

Raphaëlle Rouhier is a nutritionist specialising in support care and palliative care. She has an Engineering degree in Nutrition and Food Science from Agrosup Dijon, as well as a Post-Graduate Certificate in Palliative Care and Support.  She works in France in two day hospitals that offer supportive care to people undergoing oncological treatment or in palliative situations (La Parenthèse in Toulouse and Pass-Temps in Narbonne). She meets patients integrated to early palliative care pathway and people in advanced and end of life stages, hospitalised in palliative care units.

Posted in BLOG SERIES, Multi disciplinary care, Palliative stories, PATIENT & FAMILY CARE, PSYCHO-SOCIAL ISSUES | Leave a comment

The value of international health cooperation in palliative care

Posted on January 6, 2026 by pallcare

Health cooperation with low and middle income countries is important for improving medical care and helping the severe suffering that accompanies many diseases. For today’s blog, Wilson Astudillo Alarcón from Palliative Care Without Borders (PSF) tells us the action that must be taken now.

Four people sitting on a wall, facing away from the camera, with their hands raised
Volunteers from PSF, Spain working with colleagues in Ecuador, 2024.
Photo credit: Paliativos sin Fronteras

‘This is the duty of our generation as we enter the 21st century: solidarity with the weak, the persecuted, the abandoned, the sick and the desperate.’ Elie Wiesel

Health cooperation can be educational or healthcare related and is a form of solidarity that allows knowledge, skills and teachings to be passed on to other professionals for progress in these areas (1). There are specific areas which we should all be working together to improve care.

The early detection and treatment of cancer in both adults and children must be a fundamental concern for all governments, as it is the cause and effect of 25% of premature deaths, as well as great suffering and poverty in many nations. To this end, it is essential to understand and implement measures for prevention and early detection, and to have effective and cheaper treatments available, including palliative care. We need to tackle cancer by working together, across nations. These measures must be complemented by more vaccinations, control of malnutrition and universal health insurance coverage that can increase access to treatment and survival (2).

Suffering in the form of pain is common to many illnesses and various situations such as humanitarian disasters, so all health non governmental organisations should raise awareness and support the education of their members as to how to treat pain, as persistent pain can become the centre of life. It would therefore be very helpful for aid workers to learn the basics of palliative care and how to use the International Association for Hospice and Palliative Care (IAHPC) Essential Pack of Pain and Palliative Medicines (3).

Another crucial aspect of cooperation is supporting the training of professionals in low and middle income countries in, for example, palliative care, surgery, anaesthesia, pain, radiotherapy and physiotherapy, as these specialities are lacking in many places and are essential for controlling disease, preventing and alleviating pain and suffering. Institutional support is needed through the creation of a network of teaching hospitals working in solidarity to train professionals, not only to sharing knowledge, but also to promote twinning and implement programmes to improve their medicine and care for their patients. Since 2009, PSF Spain has promoted a network of teaching hospitals in Spain, offering courses on palliative care in person and online in Cameroon, Congo,Nigeria,Haiti, Ecuador and Spain.  We have awarded 55 fellowships to support  palliative institutions of these countries.

Medicine, according to Jacob Needleman, was the first human science that combined a passion for understanding with a desire to help. In today’s world, we can see this as an  active compassion for alleviating the suffering of more than 3.6 billion people living in areas highly susceptible to climate change and those forced to move due armed conflict. The existence of so much conflict and scarcity in the world has motivated many colleagues to organise themselves into non governmental organisations to fight against these inequalities, and they must be supported by the medical and nursing associations. As Goethe said, ‘Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do‘.

For F.D. Roosevelt, ‘the test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much, but whether we provide enough for those who have very little’. For Eduardo Bruera, the key to the success of our non governmental organisations cooperation ‘is always the sum of small and medium sized alliances between humanitarian organisations and some governments, other organisations in the sector, and the communities and families directly affected‘. This vital work must not be discouraged. Institutional cooperation can overcome isolationist sovereignties and help develop a global identity in the service of universal health and relieving suffering of those who need help most.

References

1. Institute of Medicine (IOM) Crosssing the Quality Chasm: a New Health System for the 21 st Centrury, Washington.,D.C. National Academy Press.

2. Kruk ME, Gage AD, Arsenault C, et al. High-quality health systems in the Sustainable Development Goals era: time for a revolution. Lancet Global Health 2018; 6: e1196–252.

3. Knaul F., Krakauer E., De Lima L. et al. Alleviating the access abyss in Palliative care and pain relief- an imperative of Universal health coverage. The Lancet Commission Report , 2018:391_1391-453.

Links and resources

About the author

Wilson Astudillo Alarcón is Chair of Palliative sin Fronteras (PSF), based in San Sebastian in Spain. He is a neurologist and a family physician. In 1992 he founded the Sociedad Vasca de Cuidados Paliativos and then Palliative Care without Borders in 2009 which become Paliativos sin Fronteras in 2015.  Wilson is the co-editor of 25 books on palliative care and editor of Notas Paliativas, PSF’s yearly journal. Since 2016, he has been the coordinator of PSF online courses, including palliative medicine for children and adolescents, the value of caring in palliative care and palliative volunteering. ORCiD: 0000-0001-5366-0625.

Posted in ADVOCACY & POLICY, EDUCATION & TRAINING, NATIONAL & INTERNATIONAL REPORTS, PALLIATIVE CARE IN HUMANITARIAN CRISES, PATIENT & FAMILY CARE, VOLUNTEERING IN PALLIATIVE CARE | Leave a comment

A Christmas Carol

Posted on December 23, 2025 by pallcare

Storytelling has long been a part of winter traditions.  For our Christmas blog, Jeroen Hasselaar, the EAPC’s President, reflects on a story published over 180 years ago, but still resonant today.

christmas bauble with blurred lights

A Christmas carol is a story by Charles Dickens about Ebenezer Scrooge, an old grumpy man, who is visited by three spirits: Christmas Past, Present and Yet to Come. From all these spirits he reluctantly learns lessons about the themes of redemption, compassion and the virtues of generosity and kindness. One of the main figures is his poor clerk Bob Cratchit who has a vulnerable and disabled son, Tiny Tim. The spirit of Yet to Come shows Ebenezer Scrooge how Tiny Tim is about to die if no care is given, and that the family will have to celebrate Christmas without him. This spirit confronts Ebenezer with his own mortality. After seeing this, Ebenezer Scrooge shows feelings of remorse and regret. He decides to change his life and to show compassion with his poor clerk and his tiny son, and to support them to get the right care.

Palliative care is about the patient and their family. This Christmas story shows how the expected death of a person (Tiny Tim) will impact the life of the whole family. Feelings of regret, grief and sorrow about what has been or what seems be coming (the anticipated loss). But also in light of these events, people can be brought together and show empathy and understanding with each other, sometimes in unexpected ways. Family talks with palliative caregivers can be a trigger for deeper talks within a family. Also, sometimes, relationships can be healed at the end of life. In this respect, palliative care surpasses just the medical dimensions of treatment, to a deeper one that encompasses holistic care for the whole person. Within the EAPC we pay attention to this in all our work, including through our reference groups and task forces on areas such as palliative care and public health, rehabilitation, family carers, spiritual care, bereavement, care for the dying, LGBT+ inclusive palliative care, palliative care for people in prison and others.

Wishing you all a blessed and peaceful Christmas holiday with all your loved ones.

About the author

Prof. Jeroen Hasselaar is professor of social empowerment in palliative care at the Radboud University Medical Center Nijmegen, the Netherlands. He is also the department head of primary care research for the Dutch Institute for Health Services Research, Nivel. During spare time, he is guitarist/singer in the Dutch palliative care band ‘The Palliators’.

Posted in EAPC ACTIVITIES, EAPC Board Members, PATIENT & FAMILY CARE | Leave a comment

Grey literature: uncovering hidden knowledge in palliative care

Posted on December 16, 2025 by pallcare

Traditionally, peer reviewed journal articles have been seen as the main way to access meaningful information about palliative care. However there is a wealth of knowledge in what is known as ‘grey literature’. For December’s Palliative Medicine Editor’s Choice, Caroline Phelan and colleagues tell us about a new framework that might help accessing these sources of information.

spotlight over desk which is covered with documents
AI Products, Canva

When we think about healthcare research, peer reviewed journal articles often come to mind. This is the ‘black and white’ source of evidence – formally published studies that underpin much of clinical practice.  Yet in palliative care, where complexity and nuance are the norm, valuable insights often lie beyond the boundaries of traditional academic publishing. This is where ‘grey literature’ comes in.

Grey literature includes government reports, conference presentations, clinical guidelines, dissertations and even valuable content from organisational websites that are not typically published in commercial or academic forums. In palliative care, grey literature often captures the messy, real-world experiences, patient, relative and carer voices and service innovations not represented in academic journals. It can help to fill in the gaps, particularly for non-cancer conditions or diverse populations that formal research sometimes overlooks. By utilising these sources, we gain a fuller picture, reducing the risk of only seeing positive, published outcomes and better understanding what’s happening at the proverbial coalface.

Though valuable, grey literature is scattered and difficult to find. There’s no single, neat library for it. Researchers often struggle to know where to look, how to search for it effectively and how to assess the quality of what they find.  It takes time, effort, and discernment.

To tackle these hurdles, our team developed a practical, flexible framework—a set of 12 guiding elements to support grey literature searching in palliative care. Our goal was to help researchers bridge the gap between what academic research tends to focus on and what clinicians are actually doing in practice. We wanted to make it easier for people to access the important, sometimes hidden evidence that shapes real world care.

Our approach isn’t a rigid checklist. Instead, if offers guiding principles across four key areas:

  • searching information repositories
  • engaging with stakeholder insights
  • using creative search techniques
  • utilising non-academic sources to identify emerging trends and frontline experiences.

Researchers are encouraged to tailor their approach based on their specific questions and contexts. By making the process clearer and more transparent, we hope this framework can improve access to crucial, yet hard to find evidence. We’ve also created a downloadable checklist to help researchers plan and document their searches to make their processes more transparent and reproducible.

Grey literature can strengthen multidisciplinary, patient centred approaches in palliative care by expanding the evidence base. Further work is needed to understand how diverse sources such as patient and relative narratives, and real world data (such as service utilisation or patient reported outcomes) inform care delivery and research priorities.

Ultimately, we want to give other researchers and clinical teams confidence and clarity in their search for grey literature. By doing so, we can strengthen the evidence base for palliative care, closing the gap between what researchers investigate and what clinicians experience. This will help to ensure that practical insights and patient centred innovations, especially for diverse populations, don’t stay hidden but instead become part of the knowledge that shapes better personalised care for people at the end of life.

READ THE FULL ARTICLE IN PALLIATIVE MEDICINE!

Raechel Damarell, Seth Nicholls, Jessica Tyndall & Caroline Phelan Beyond black and white: A framework for identifying grey literature in palliative care research Palliative Medicine 2025.

Recommended for you from the EAPC blog

Catch up on other Palliative Medicine editor’s choice posts from the EAPC blog, including:

About the authors

Dr Caroline Phelan is a Senior Lecturer in Palliative and End of Life Care at Flinders University, lead of End-of-Life Essentials. ORCiD: 0000-0003-3036-6209.

Dr Raechel Damarell is Senior Lecturer with the Prideaux Discipline of Clinical Education at Flinders University and a member of the Research Centre for Palliative Care, Death and Dying.  ORCiD: 0000-0002-6737-7537.

Dr Seth Nicholls is a Research Fellow with CareSearch at Flinders University and a member of the Research Centre for Palliative Care, Death and Dying. 

Jess Tyndall is a Medical Research Librarian and an advocate for the importance of grey literature in research, particularly in support of Social Justice agendas. ORCiD: 0000-0002-4632-8621.

Posted in EAPC-LINKED JOURNALS, Palliative Medicine, Palliative Medicine: Editor's Choice, RESEARCH | Leave a comment