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Report
2nd
Congress
of the EAPC
Brussels,
Belgium, October 1992
The
2nd Congress was held in Brussels, Belgium, in October 1992.
The major aim of this Congress was to offer a more detailed
and specific educational programme and stimulate and encourage
all health carers and professionals involved in the palliative
care field. Pre-teaching sessions were included in the programme.
The
importance attached to this event and the interest that it
generated was evident from the patronage of the King and Queen
of Belgium and the participation of several Belgian Ministers
at the opening ceremony. The opening address was given by
Professor Jerzy Einhorn, Chairman of the Palliative Care Subcommittee
of the ´Europe Against Cancer´ Programme, and
the closing lecture was given by Dame Cicely Saunders, the
founder of the modern palliative care movement.
Taking
into account feedback from participants at the 1st Congress
in Paris, the Scientific Committee gave much greater emphasis
to seminars and discussion sessions in formulating the programme.
The
five main topics chosen by the Scientific Committee were presented
in two plenary lectures, followed by seven seminars and five
round-table discussions. Once again the official languages
were English and French, for which simultaneous translation
was available in most sessions.
There
were 65 invited speakers and 122 free posters were displayed
during one of the sessions. For both the seminars and the
round-table discussion a choice had to be made at registration.
The Congress was attended by 1,300 participants from 27 different
countries. Many of the participants from Belgium, Switzerland,
Canada, Norway and Portugal were nurses. All the other countries
were represented mainly by physicians. The distribution of
professions was as follows: 38% physicians, 37% nurses, 5%
psychologists, 3% social workers and 3% volunteers. The Chairs
of the Organising Committee were Professor Christian Deckers
and Mrs Bernadette Wouters from Belgium and the Chair of the
Scientific Committee was Professor Geoffrey Hanks from the
UK.
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