by Shafikah Baanu, MD
I felt nervous as we handed out the multiple choice questions to CanCare foundation’s palliative nurses. I watched them tick the answers, scrutinizing their facial expressions to see if they were getting overwhelmed taking the test. It was a steep learning curve for all of us as we all fell into each other’s momentum with the palliative care training from Wabi Sabi Health. We have come a long way from that day.
Eight weeks later, we are in a small room in CanCares’ Palliative Care Unit at Voluntary Health Service as Staff. One of our learners, Nurse Shaiji, was tasked with training a group of 11 bright eyed fourth year nursing students who came for their elective’s rotation in palliative care. I watched her as she worked with her students with an ice breaker game. It was a simple game with a powerful thought-provoking end. At the end of the session, the students were deep in thought as Shaiji asked them to take a 10 min break and come back for the rest of the class that was on pain management.
I was moved with the pride at how Shaiji conducted the session. I pulled her aside and asked why she had chosen to do this session; she replied, “It’s really easy to sympathize with our patients, but I want them to start their palliative care rotation learning how to empathize.” She had first come across this game when she and the rest of the CanCare team visited Magdelene’s Expressive Art Therapy sessions that WabiSabi had organized as part of their curriculum. She told me that she is learning that teaching class is getting easier, and keeping the students engaged in the topic through the session is an art form.
Our staff have come a long way since that first day. We have three nurses who we have recognized as the “Champions” and will be focusing on developing their leadership and teaching skills. The last three weeks the three champion nurses have been conducting classes every day of the week for 4thyear nursing students on cancer care and supportive oncology both as seminars and bed side. Meanwhile, I am teaching them curriculum from Wabi Sabi Health’s modules. I observed their confidence growing, each one of them, class after class, despite some rough starts. The destination to this point was not easy, but the spot we have arrived in is nothing short of brilliance.