Published on: June 15, 2022

Anu Savio Thelly (Nurse Consultant, Dept of Palliative Medicine, Mahatma Gandhi Medical College and Research Institute, Pondicherry) writes:

The entire palliative care family was thrilled to hear the Indian Nursing Council (INC) update regarding integrating Palliative Care into the UG nursing curriculum, from the 2022 batch.

According to the latest syllabus, a 20 hours mandatory module on Palliative Care is included in the 4^th semester (second year) of the four-year BSc Nursing Course. INC implies that the module is designed to help students develop in-depth knowledge, competencies, and a positive approach in providing quality palliative care to persons suffering from chronic illnesses and resultant health problems in various settings, collaborating with supportive services.

Following this announcement, the Indian Nursing Council has published the course outline for the mandatory modules. The course outline describes the application of various teaching-learning methods like Lectures and demonstration, Self-study/Reading assignments, Written assignments and Practice in Skill/Simulation Lab to complete these modules. INC has also suggested recommendations to all the colleges on how to implement these mandatory modules.

Moreover, INC has suggested using the Palliative care module prepared by WHO CC of Trivandrum for reference. For this purpose, Pallium India has created a core team headed by Dr Latha A (Faculty, College of Nursing, AIIMS, Jodhpur). Lt Alice Stella Virginia (Faculty IAPC), Lt Col Lovely Antony (Professor, National Hospital College of Nursing, Kozhikode) and Ms Anu Savio Thelly (Nurse Consultant, Mahatma Gandhi Medical College and Research Institute, Pondicherry) are other members. Furthermore, a pan India faculty pool of 25 members with palliative care nursing experts, nursing college faculties, and academic experts will validate the modules for feasibility.

Dr Sreedevi Warrier, Head, Education and Clinical Training at Pallium India, is coordinating the entire project. “We aim to complete this project by December 2022. We hope this module will bring a unified training on palliative care for BSc Nursing students,” says Dr Sreedevi.