Yerevan State Medical University participates in the European Union COST-Action CA22127 “Collaboratively developed, culturally appropriate and inclusive assessment tool for palliative care education” project. Artashes Tadevosyan, Head of the Department of Public Health and Healthcare Organization, and Ashot Gyulbudaghyan, lecturer of the Department of Anesthesiology, represent the University within the framework of the program.
According to Artashes Tadevosyan, the European Union has several major directions of funded programs: ERASMUS – mainly educational programs, HORIZON – research programs, and COST – Collaboration of Science and Technology, which refers to the dissemination of information, raising public awareness, creating cooperation and connections.
The coordinator of this program is the Paracelsus Medical University of Salzburg. The project was launched in September 2023, it will last 4 years, ending in September 2027.
“At the time when the program was being written, 20-21 universities were cooperating. But, unlike the rest of the programs, here you can always connect on an individual level. The program is designed for 4 years, but individuals can also join during the first 2 years. As of now, the program includes representatives of 27 countries. It is a great honor for us that only our country from the region participates in the program,” Artashes Tadevosyan says with pride.
According to him, the first meeting took place on January 30-31, 2024, in Salzburg (Austria), the second working meeting will take place in Armenia, under the hospitable roof of the Medical University, on June 24-25.
“This is a very interesting and important event, because the palliative care service as such in Armenia is taking its first steps. The demand is actually very high, because there are about 18-20 thousand beneficiaries of palliative care services in Armenia every year. If we take into account that palliative care is for the whole family, we will have approximately 100 thousand beneficiaries, and we should be able to provide this service. Our task is to evaluate the educational programs, the criteria that are used to approve the program, even in countries where the program is already in place (European countries also have problems), bringing best practices to stimulate the development of new, systematic, unified educational programs and population awareness programs”, the Professor emphasizes, adding that psychological, historical characteristics, customs are of great importance in this matter, and all educational materials should not only be translated, but also localized in order to be consistent with Armenian national characteristics.
