Review of management of pruritus in palliative care

Pruritus or itch is an uncommon symptom observed in palliative care, even more uncommon in cancer patients. However, if a patient experiences pruritus, the 'itch?scratch' cycle can damage the skin integrity and can increase the susceptibility of patients to infection owing to their frail immune system. The outcome can be very distressing, dramatically impacting the quality-of-life of the patient. Moreover, since severe pruritus seen in patients with advanced disease can be associated with failure of different organ systems, pruritus must be assessed based on the underlying organ systems and the pathophysiology involved. Regardless of the cause of pruritus, general skin care is important. Depending on the origin of pruritus, specific approach and medications must be considered. Caution must be taken during management of pruritus since most cancer patients take pain medications that interact with some antipruritic medications. In addition to the complex and unclear nature of cutaneous and central pathogenesis of pruritus, treatment of pruritus is challenging

CanMEDS curriculum in Saudi Arabian context: lessons learned and way forward

Background: Saudi Commission for Health Specialties [SCFHS] has adopted CanMEDS competency framework for developing curriculum for postgraduate training programmes

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to share the process of developing postgraduate curricula under SCFHS's patronage and to identify potential barriers to implement newly developed curricula and suggest strategies to overcome the barriers

Methods: The process of consensus building started with one-one interview with key stakeholders, review of literature, and comparison of various curricular models. A prototype curriculum was developed with inputs from international advisors. The proposal for the curriculum development and outcomes was reviewed amongst SCHS education committee members and approved. Two medical education experts have been involved in coordinating the process of curriculum development

Results: Over the last two years, SCFHS has been working with several residency and fellowship programmes to develop formal curricula. The goal is to complete formal curriculum for all residency and fellowship programmes using CanMEDS competency frameworks

Continuing medical education as a national strategy to improve access to primary care in Saudi Arabia / 보건의료교육평가

The purpose of this study was to describe the development, implementation, and evaluation of an educational program in family medicine for general practitioners in Saudi Arabia from 2009 to 2011. A continuing medical education program called Family Medicine Education (FAME) was developed with 7 modules each consisting of 12-14 hours of teaching to be delivered in 3 day blocks, over 45 days. Twenty percent (2,761) of all general practitioners participated in the FAME program. Initial assessment of the program showed significant improvement of knowledge from scores of 49% on a pre-test to 89% on post-tests. FAME program in Saudi Arabia facilitated primary care physicians' knowledge.