We are still referred to very late on ( 40-50 days before death) and there is ample data now proving the differences we can make – to quality of life, if not to survival. There were incremental improvements in the recognition of “earlier” palliative care links to nursing homes and community geriatrics / DNACPR discussions / planning and all the routine day to day clinical tasks. The idea that no one wants to take part in research at the end of life has gone, but if you enter into a trial late, then attrition is of course high. For me, there was no definitive practice-changing trial. The reality that came through in the lectures I attended, is that many clinical interventions are still taking an enormous length of time to complete and end up being significantly underpowered. I did look! All jesting aside, the lack of basic science representation was striking. While it was great to see the usual smattering of psychologists, nurses, social scientists and the like, I did not see too many laboratory based ones, or dermatologists or pulmonologists, for that matter. ![]() I like the idea of mixing with other disciplines – not just oncologists, but (you heard it here first) other specialities, too. What it does mean -according to the plenary lectures- is more data on services, more trials and yes, more collaboration. So you may ask what has changed over the course of time and the answer has to be somewhat tangential – plus ca change … However we are now in a position to future-proof ourselves and apparently that does not involve uploading our consciousness to the cloud, like in a Futurama episode. It was as I later found out an anniversary: “20 years of the EAPC Research Network, the 30th anniversary of the EAPC, as well as the commemoration of the 100th birthday of Dame Cicely Saunders.” Lots of decades of fine work there. ![]() Like every medical conference worth its salt, there needs to be a tag line – this was the research version of the annual European conference. Being sufficiently cuckoo, I did not need to bring a Kuckucksuhr home, either. As a result I can share some thoughts about what I learned and bought home, aside from the Swiss chocolate and the #EAPC2018 hashtag. The conference side-programme did not, on this occasion, involve a day visit to the Dignitas clinic, which I did point out on my feedback form. I couldn’t get to Bournemouth for this year’s Association for Palliative Medicine conference so went for complete palliation ( soins palliatifs, dude) in Switzerland, instead. By Dr Ollie Minton, Consultant in Palliative Medicine, Brighton, UK
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