Online Foundation Course in Palliative Medicine for doctors (FCPM) – ECHO
Trivandrum Institute of Palliative Sciences (TIPS), Pallium India collaborates with ECHO International (Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes) to conduct palliative care certificate courses in India. The aim of these courses is to provide training in pain management and palliative care.
Language: English
Classes Scheduled: 20 Sessions (3 sessions per week)
Start Date: 05 May 2025 (Monday)
End Date: 20 June 2025 (Friday)
Days of the week: Monday, Wednesday & Friday
Class Timing: 5:00 PM – 6:30 PM (IST)
Where: ZOOM Online
Scroll down for more information about the course.
More About this training:
Foundation Course in Palliative Medicine is an online certificate training in palliative care, to educate health care professionals, especially doctors, in pain management and palliative care.
Trivandrum Institute of Palliative Sciences (TIPS) collaborates with ECHO International (Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes) to provide palliative care education and expertise using an online platform. As part of TIPS-ECHO, we conduct sessions to enable medical professionals to inculcate the principles of palliative care in their treatment.
Eligibility:
MBBS or BDS, with permanent registration with medical / dental council.
(In accordance with the rules of the Dental Council of India (DCI), the holder of a BDS degree should be eligible to practise palliative care in conditions associated with the oral and maxillofacial area. Under the NDPS rules of 2015, BDS with training in pain management is adequate qualification to be in-charge of a Recognised Medical Institution (RMI) to stock and dispense Essential Narcotic Drugs (END) including morphine, methadone and fentanyl).
Class Details
Number of sessions: 20
For Class timing, date and other information, view our Training Calendar:
To ensure adequate interaction during sessions, we will have to limit the number of participants at each course on a first-come, first-serve basis. So register quickly!
Attendance
Participants need to attend all sessions. If one is unable to attend a session, due to unexpected emergency, they should watch the session videos provided and mail us back a summary of the class. Course certificate can be issued only to those who have attended minimum 80% of the sessions.
Course Fees:
₹5000. Payment is to be made after completing the registration (registration link is given below).
Application process:
(Please fill this form for registration. Please Keep an image (jpeg/pdf) of your Medical Council Registration and a passport size photo handy for upload as well.)
After you complete the registration, please pay the fees online:
In case of queries, write to: tipsecho@palliumindia.org
Features of Online Foundation Course in Palliative Medicine
- Prescribed syllabus-oriented courses
- Pre-test and post-test for assessment
- Case Presentation by a participant in each session
- Regular assignments
- Various learning materials will be provided
- Several articles regarding the subject will be shared
- Certificate issuance at the end based on Case Presentation, Attendance (minimum 80% required) and Assignments (needs to score minimum 80% of the total marks)
Learning Outcomes
- Introduction to Palliative care
- Define palliative care and explain its importance in improving quality of life.
- Describe the essential principles that guide palliative care practice.
- Recognize the need for integrating palliative care into regular clinical practice.
- Identify and differentiate between various models of palliative care delivery.
- Introduction to Pain
- Define pain and describe its underlying pathophysiology.
- Explain the concept of total pain.
- Classify different types of pain (e.g., nociceptive, neuropathic).
- Differentiate between acute and chronic pain in terms of duration, cause, and management.
- Understand and use key pain-related terms:
- Breakthrough pain, incident pain, end-of-dose pain, allodynia, hyperalgesia.
- Conduct a structured pain assessment using tools like OPQRST / SOCRATES.
- Understand how to assess total pain.
- Use appropriate pain scales (e.g., numerical pain rating scale, visual analog scale, Wong-Baker faces) for effective pain measurement.
- Introduce the WHO analgesic pain ladder.
- Management of Pain 01 Step 1 & 2 including Adjuvants
- Describe the WHO analgesic ladder and its stepwise approach to pain relief.
- Explain the principles guiding the WHO analgesic ladder.
- Identify Step I drugs – their dosages and common side effects.
- Identify Step II drugs – their dosages and common side effects.
- Understand when and how to prescribe Step I and Step II drugs appropriately based on pain severity and patient response.
- Define adjuvant drugs and their role in treating pain.
- Identify common adjuvant drugs used in palliative care with their indications, dosing and side effects
- Management of Pain 02- Opioids
- List the drugs included under Step 3 of the WHO analgesic ladder.
- Understand the pharmacology of strong opioids, including:
- Morphine – onset, metabolism, dosing, routes of administration
- Fentanyl – transdermal use, onset, potency, appropriate use of fentanyl.
- Conduct an intravenous morphine trial to assess patient responsiveness and titration needs.
- Convert IV morphine to oral morphine accurately using appropriate conversion ratios.
- Recognize and manage common opioid side effects.
- Identify and manage toxic effects of opioids.
- Methadone
- Describe the pharmacological properties of methadone.
- Compare benefits and risks of methadone.
- Identify key monitoring parameters for methadone use.
- Recognize appropriate patients for methadone.
- Understand the principles of opioid conversion to methadone, including individualized dosing and close supervision.
- Medical Ethics
- Describe the key ethical principles:
- Autonomy
- Beneficence
- Non-maleficence
- Justice
- How to apply these principles to real-world palliative care situations, including decision-making, symptom control, and communication with patients and families.
- Explain the doctrine of double effect
- Differentiate between euthanasia and the limitation of futile treatment, emphasizing
- Describe the key ethical principles:
- Difficult Pain
- Identify causes and characteristics of difficult or refractory pain in palliative care.
- How to integrate a multimodal approach to pain management tailored to the individual patient’s needs.
- Outline pharmacological strategies for managing difficult pain, including opioid rotation, adjuvants, and combination therapy.
- Explain non-pharmacological measures in managing difficult pain.
- Describe the role of interventional pain management techniques in selected cases.
- Communication: Introduction to Communication
- Understand the need for effective medical communication.
- Identify common barriers to effective communication.
- Describe the key steps to effective communication.
- Differentiate between good and poor communication through observation, examples, or role-play.
- Develop and practice active listening skills, including verbal and non-verbal techniques to enhance patient understanding and rapport.
- Communication: Communicating Bad News & Collusion.
- Understand the principles and steps of communicating bad news using structured approaches such as the SPIKES protocol.
- Recognize and effectively respond to emotional reactions from patients and families with empathy and support.
- Identify and appropriately manage collusion, balancing cultural sensitivity and patient autonomy.
- Palliative care in non-cancer illness
- Describe the principles of palliative care as applied to patients with non-cancer illnesses, focusing on quality of life, symptom management, and holistic support.
- Identify non-cancer illnesses that may benefit from a palliative approach.
- Use of assessment tools like “SPICT”.
- Understand how to integrate palliative care into the management of non-cancer illnesses.
- Introduction to Pediatric palliative care
- Understand the definition and scope of pediatric palliative care.
- Recognize the unique needs of children with life-limiting conditions and their families.
- Identify common conditions requiring pediatric palliative care.
- How to use the pain ladder in children.
- Understand the importance of a multidisciplinary, family-centered approach.
- Role of psychosocial and spiritual support in pediatric palliative care.
- Gastrointestinal symptoms: Nausea & Vomiting Psycho-social Issues
- Understand the prevalence of constipation in palliative care.
- Assess and manage constipation, using both pharmacological and non-pharmacological approaches.
- Recognize and manage malignant bowel obstruction through appropriate interventions, including pharmacological and non-pharmacological measures.
- Recognize how to manage malignant bowel obstruction in a terminally ill patient.
- Respiratory symptoms Breathlessness Cough
- Identify the causes of breathlessness and cough.
- Assess breathlessness effectively using clinical tools and patient history.
- Describe the management of breathlessness, including pharmacological and non-pharmacological interventions.
- Understand the management of breathlessness in terminally ill patients.
- Recognize the role of oxygen in managing breathlessness and when it is indicated.
- Describe the management of cough, including treatment options for different causes.
- Understand how to manage refractory breathlessness and cough.
- Wound Management, Pressure sore, Fungating wound
- Describe the principles of preventing pressure sores, including positioning, skin care, and pressure-relieving devices.
- Identify the psychosocial issues caused by fungating wounds.
- Manage malodor and wound exudates with appropriate wound care techniques, deodorizing dressings, and absorbent materials.
- Psycho-social issues
- Describe the components of a psychosocial assessment.
- Understand the role of Genogram and ECOMAP in mapping family relationships and social connections.
- Describe the process of a spiritual assessment, addressing the patient’s spiritual needs, beliefs, and values.
- Identify various psychosocial interventions in palliative care, such as counseling, support groups, and communication strategies.
- Delirium
- Recognize key symptoms of delirium
- Describe common causes of delirium.
- Differentiate delirium from dementia.
- Outline pharmacological and non-pharmacological approaches to manage delirium.
- Understand and manage terminal delirium.
- Palliative care emergencies
- Recognize the signs and symptoms of spinal cord compression and understand how to treat or refer urgently.
- Identify the signs and symptoms of superior vena cava (SVC) obstruction and understand how to treat or refer urgently.
- Describe the management of hemorrhage in palliative care, including anticipatory planning, symptom control, and care at end-of-life.
- Other important palliative care emergencies commonly seen in a clinical setting and how to approach them.
- Organizing of Palliative Care Services
- Understand how to build networks with like-minded organizations for collaboration and resource sharing.
- Recognize the role of advocacy in integrating palliative care into healthcare systems and influencing policy.
- Identify key approaches to fundraising to support the development and sustainability of palliative care services.
- End of Life Care (EOLC)
- Recognize the symptoms and signs of the dying process.
- Understand how to develop an individualized care plan for end-of-life.
- Know the principles of prescribing at end-of-life, including anticipatory prescribing and symptom control.
- Communicate effectively with patients and families about end-of-life issues.
- Understand the purpose and use of Advance Medical Directives in guiding care decisions.
- Opioid Availability
- Describe what an RMI (Recognized Medical Institution) and RMP (Registered Medical Practitioner) are, in the context of opioid prescription as per NDPS act.
- Understand the key provisions of the NDPS Act (Amendment) 2014.
- List the prerequisites for obtaining RMI status.
- Identify the different narcotic forms used.
- Explain the process of applying for RMI recognition.
How to join the session
ECHO is conducted through ZOOM application which can be downloaded (free download) from Google play store for mobile phones and direct download from internet for Windows. Download from: https://zoom.us/download
For any assistance, please contact:
For more information on this course or for any assistance, please call us at +91 62829 02450 or write to us: tipsecho@palliumindia.org
Clinical Director: Dr. M. R. Rajagopal
Project Facilitator: Dr. Sunilkumar M. M.
Comments are closed.
