February 2^nd. In cooperation with the Patients’ Friends Society-Jerusalem, the International Cancer Nursing Training, the Pontifical Mission in Jerusalem and the Arab Specialized Hospital in Nablus, the Faculty of Nursing at the University held a workshop on caring for cancer patients focusing on palliative care.

The workshop was organized at the Conferences Room at the Old Campus library and aimed to help doctors, pharmacists and others acquire the skills they need to properly deal with the patients and keep them in touch with the latest developments regarding caring for cancer patients.

The workshop started with a welcome speech by Dr. Aidah Al-Kaissi, Dean of the Faculty of Nursing at An-Najah, in which she welcomed the participants from the United Kingdom and the United States and valued their interest in presenting their ideas and willingness to share their experience with their colleagues in Palestine.

Dr. Al-Kaissi first gave a presentation in which she defined palliative care. She explained that palliative care is any form of treatment or care that focuses on reducing the severity of disease symptoms rather than providing a cure for that disease. Such care is often applied in cases that involve patients with chronic diseases including cancer, chronic kidney diseases, heart failure, AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome)…etc. It also aims to reinforce the patient’s life quality spiritually, physically and psychologically. Palliative care not only targets the patient, it also aims at the patient’s family to try to reduce stress and reinforce their morale.

Mrs. Carol Al-Ja’bari and Mrs. Suhailah Qara’een gave a speech on behalf of the Patient’s Friends Society in which they welcomed the participants and thanked the Faculty of Nursing for hosting the workshop; they also emphasized the importance of holding this workshop at the University.

On the first day of the workshop, Suzan Newton gave a lecture titled “Introduction to Palliative Care for Cancer Patients”. On the same day, Dr. Al-Kaissi gave a lecture in which she spoke about the statistics of cancer patients on the international and national levels and the status of palliative care in Palestine. She also described the most sersoius types of cancer. Mrs. Najwa Sabah also presented a lecture in which she discussed the importance of having statistic data in Palestine; in addition to that, she spoke about the mechanism Breast Cancer evaluation in Palestine.

After that, Dr. Elizabeth Brokers and Suzan Newton spoke about the treatment of the symptoms associated with cancer including (Dizziness, weakness, fatigue, vomiting, constipation, cough and lymphatic tumor). They also described the analgesic drugs that are given to cancer patients and the complementary role of palliative care.

In the second day of the workshop, the participants presented several lectures on a variety of topics including: cancer patients’ care at Beit Jala Hospital, the use of the chemical therapy and its side effects, the role of chemical therapy in palliative care, radiotherapy for cancer patients.

A meeting with Al Shurooq group, which included women who survived breast cancer, was held in which they spoke about their experiences in dealing with cancer patients.

At the end of the workshop, the participants said that it is necessary to focus on developing the area of palliative care in Palestine, developing the human resources (doctors and nurses) to work in the field of palliative care, as well as integrating palliative care study into university education.

At the end of the second day of the workshop, cases for discussion were distributed among the audience and they came out with recommendations. At the conclusion, certificates were given to the audience and the workshop was evaluated.