Medical Education

Serving communities in the Three Areas, HEAR Sudan builds capacity of local stakeholders to plan, implement and monitor health and education services, helps translate this increased capacity into action, and builds community support for school governance and outreach. HEAR strengthens linkages between educators and health workers with the aim of increasing healthy girls’ and boys’ access to quality education.

EDC is helping the American Cancer Society develop modules for their international university. The university is designed to build the capacity of cancer-control leaders of organizations from communities throughout the world with a nascent or developing civil-society sector. The modules address a range of skill sets that are necessary for cancer control (e.g., fundraising, governance, patient advocacy, media relations).

Initiated in collaboration with Children’s Hospital Boston, PERCS is an educational program for house staff, medical residents, nurses, and allied health professionals focused on improving communication and relationship-building skills with children and families. The one-day workshop includes interviewing of simulated patients, video feedback, personal and professional debriefing, and didactic presentations in pediatric palliative care and communication principles. This workshop continues to be offered on a monthly basis, and has been attended by over 150 practitioners.

This project organizes retreats that explore ways to integrate pediatric palliative care education into health care settings. Building on the “Family as Educators” component of EDC’s Initiative for Pediatric Palliative Care (IPPC) program, bereaved parents and parents whose children are faced with chronic health conditions participate in the retreats as co-teachers and co-learners alongside the health care professionals.

Gems of Care (GOC) is a national program dedicated to improving the continuity and coordination of health care and social services for children with life-threatening conditions and their families. GOC will achieve improved integration of services by facilitating networking and dissemination of expertise between hospitals and community-based organizations, both within identified geographical regions and throughout the country.

The Initiative for Pediatric Palliative Care (IPPC) is an educational and a quality improvement effort, aimed at enhancing family-centered care for children living with life-threatening conditions. IPPC’s comprehensive, interdisciplinary curriculum addresses knowledge, attitudes and skills that health care professionals need in order to better serve children and families.