Cancer: From the Scientific to the Human – Ecuador (AEMPPI)

Name of the activity: Cancer: From the Scientific to the Human

Country/NMO: Ecuador (AEMPPI)

Program: Healthy Lifestyles & Non-Communicable Diseases

Contact information: [email protected]

Type of the activity: Education

General description:

Cancer: From the scientific to the human is a project that seeks, through different exposures with qualified professionals, to educate medical students about 4 prevalent types of cancer in Ecuador by giving them the necessary tools to know about prevention of each one including a testimony of life of a breast cancer survivor.

On Sunday there will be a practical part of the project where attendees to the symposium will expose to the patients of the Huella Esperanza Foundation information learned at the symposium, in addition to the opening of the clinical records of these patients.

Before and after the symposium, the participants will receive a link of a form that must be completed, either to attend the event or to receive the participation certificate; with this we are going to be able to evaluate how useful was our event and in which things we should improve.

Focus area:

Cancer

Problem statement:

Cancer is a chronic non-communicable disease, but above all, cruel for those who suffer it and the people around the patient, specially because of its difficult treatment and the high mortality rate it represents. According to the WHO, cancer is the second leading cause of death worldwide and its prevalence is higher specially at developing countries; that´s why it´s important to recognize it from different optics. First of all, from a scientific-medical vision where the exposure of the updates of the most prevalent types of cancer in Ecuador is an issue of interest to the doctors in training for the future application in their labor field. On the other hand, from the point of view of rights, where it´s necessary to know clearly about the National Health System of Ecuador, and how affordable are for the general population the different health services for the prevention of this disease. Finally, we have an animic-subjective view in the patients, which has a significant influence on the efficacy of the treatment and palliative care.

Target groups and beneficiaries:

This symposium is addressed to around 70 students of the medical career in order to educate them in each subject mentioned above, motivating them to make the educational process permanent, relevant and encouraging the creation of projects like this that focus on all areas of disastrous diseases. With this, future physicians will learn the best way to provide an adequate medical and humanistic service according to the vulnerable group that is being treated.

The beneficiaries of this event are patients from Huella Esperanza Foundation ( a foundation that is under the endorsement of the Real Madrid Foundation of Spain) who will be integrated to the university society, receive useful tools to face and overcome their difficult situation , being entertained and distracted in that period of time and they will be made the opening of clinical histories in addition to anthropometric measurements.

Objectives and indicators of success:

General objective: To instruct 70 medical students about prevention of the 4 most prevalent types of cancer in Ecuador through a symposium with experts on the subject on Saturday March 24 and Sunday March 25 of 2018.
Specific objectives:
-To expose medical students and cancer patients a living testimony of fight against cancer with the help of Veronica Duque
-Humanize the medical treatment towards the cancer patient
-To raise awareness among participants about cancer disease as a pathology with a diversity of approaches through the exposure of experts and interaction with oncology patients.

Two forms are made to evaluate prior and post symposium knowledge. Each one will be sent as a prerequisite, either to attend the event or to acquire their certificate of participation; with this, we will evaluate how useful was the information given and how much did the participants learned from each type of cancer, identifying which of our objectives were achieved and receiving suggestions for the improvement of future projects.

Methodology:

A symposium will be held about some of the most prevalent types of cancer in Ecuador, which are: breast, cervical, skin and colon. This subjects will be exposed by qualified professionals in each branch that, in addition, are teachers of University of Americas (UDLA). They will have 30 minutes of exposition about prevention and 10 minutes for questions from the public.

In the same way, there will be a time for the participants to have lunch, which is included in the cost of registration, and can rest. After this time, the symposium will continue with an exposure about psychological part of the patient who is facing cancer. Finally, Veronica Duque breast cancer survivor will give testimony about how her experience was with this difficult disease and how she faced it.

Plans for evaluation:

Before de development of the event, the participants will receive at their mail a link from the form the must complete as a prerequisite to asist to the event. With this we are going to evaluate how much the students know about the 4 types of cancer that will be exposed during de day.

After it ends, the assistants will receive at their mail another link of a form they must complete, also as a prerequisite, but in this case to receive their diploma.

With the answers of both forms, we will be able to evaluate the prior and post symposium knowledge. Through this, we can evaluate how much they understood about the symposium, their opinion and grade for it; also making us able to check if all of our objectives were achieved and in what things we should improve for future projects.