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Driving forward palliative care in Ghana: a focus on patient outcomes
Palliative care services in Africa have been recognized for their leadership in using patient-reported outcome measures (principally the APCA African POS) in routine care and in research. A recent 2-day meeting in Accra, funded by UICC, has established a team to spearhead outcome measurement in Ghana. The training was led by Dr Richard Harding from the Cicely Saunders Institute (King's College London) with colleagues Eve Namisango (African Palliative Care Association) and Esme Pudule (Hospice Palliative Care Association of South Africa). The trainers aimed to share experience and successes from using the APCA African POS (Palliative Outcome Scale) across Eastern and Southern Africa, with clinicians in West Africa.
 
The Ghanaian delegates represented stakeholders from medicine, nursing, social work and psychological services, pharmacy and academia. The 30 participants exchanged best practice, learned to use POS and formulated a country action plan to integrate the POS into care, as well as to use it to conduct research and build the local evidence base. Ghana will be the first African country to use the updated version of the tool- the APCA African iPOS (integrated POS).

Quotes:

Dr Richard Harding said "It was very exciting hear the clinicians establishing their local plans to measure and improve care in Ghana, and it was clear that the use of POS builds on the training on palliative care they have received to date. The data they generate will be key to proving their impact at the patient level, demonstrating their commitment to quality improvement, and providing the evidence necessary for policy and funding support for patients with progressive illness."
 
Eve Namisango said "The Western African experience was very exciting and I was greatly impressed by the delegates who showed great enthusiasm in rolling out the use of the POS in routine care. using the POS at a larger scale in this part of Africa is definitely going to be very exciting and the teams will generate data and evidence to inform policy, and health care delivery across Ghana I am glad they will not be struggling with determining the palliative care needs of patients in routine care anymore."
 
Esme Pudule said "The richness of skills and expertise amongst the participants were amazing. Their engagement with the case studies mirrored common and real situations in their place of work. Application and implementation of the APCA iPOS will assist them the day- to-day practice of palliative care in Ghana."
 
Adewale Bisi (nurse from the Ministry of Health) said "It is a very good tool that can help to assess the problems of patients that need palliative care at every stage of their disease."
 
Dr Mawuli Gyakobo (Head of Palliative Medicine Unit, Faculty of Family Medicine, Ghana College of Physicans and Surgeons) "This has been a useful workshop that can potentially change the practice of palliative care in Ghana."
 
Clotilda N Muronda (registered nurse, Sweden-Ghana Medical Centre) "It has been a good learning experience with an easy flow of information, superfantabulous."
 
Agnes Enyonam Adzadogo (Pharmacist, Tamale Teaching Hospital "Very practical and suitable for our circumstances."
 
Dr Edwina Opare-Lokko ( palliative and family physician from Korle-Bu Polyclinic) said "It is a good tool for assessing and monitoring our patients at Korle-Bu Hospital."
 
Patrick Kwame Awuni (Dialysis Nurse, Ghana Police Hospital) "Building a network to support other groups."
 
Amos Offei Affedzie (Pharmacist, Tamale teaching Hospital) "It will spur on research at the local level."
 
Mainatu Goodman (Nurse, Tamale Teaching Hospital), "It is a good tool for patients care planning on the ward."
 
Evelyn Osei-Amoah (Nurse, Tamale Teaching Hospital) "It will help in the assessment and improving the conditions of our patients."
 
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