REPORT OF CDE PROGRAM ‘PALLIDENT’
The program ‘Pallident; a CDE program on Dentists role in palliative care’, was conducted on 27th October 2024,from 11 am to 1 pm, on a online platform, Google meet by the Department of Public Health Dentistry of Azeezia College of Dental Science and Research, Kollam. About 62 of the final year students from our college and 4 faculties have participated in the program. This program aimed to provide a comprehensive understanding of the palliative care and the role of students, as they ought to become future dentists. The Resource person for the CDE program was Dr.Prasanth.C.V; RMO, Palliative care department, RCC, Trivandrum. It was very much delighted and obliged to be a part of this CDE conducted by such a renowned person with several years of experience in this field.
The program started with a brief introduction about palliative care and the introduction of the resource person for the programme was given by Dr.Aarathi Vijayan (HOD, Department of Public Health Dentistry,Azeezia College of Dental Science and Research). The program aimed to equip dentists, as health care professionals with knowledge, skills and compassion necessary to provide high quality, patient centered care to individuals with serious or terminal illness. In line with the WHO’S definition, Palliative care seeks to alleviate suffering, improve quality of life, and support patients and their families through the illness trajectory. The class was very much interactive and was very engaging and fruitful to be a part of. The class also contained countless real life experiences of Dr.Prashant had in his professional life. This program focused on cultivating compassionate care for individuals with life-limiting illness; it effectively enhanced the participants ability to provide empathetic and holistic support for them. It also created an impact on the patient centered care and on supporting their family, improving the quality of their life. The real life experiences the resource person has shared, added more gravity to the issue.
The program succeeded in giving dental healthcare professionals paramount knowledge and understanding in the topic. It also helped to develop solicitude towards the ailing person; also created an understanding that it was much more important to make the person feel living a happy life more necessary. A good palliative care can even help a person gain recovery from any of the terminal illnesses he is suffering from. The class was concluded by saying ‘there is always something we can do’ to procure a healthy and happy life for the needed.
