8. TRAINING AND EDUCATION 8.1 All p

8. TRAINING AND EDUCATION 8.1 All palliative care services should ensure that a reasonable level of knowledge, skills and competence exists among within all its personnel. As palliative care is a fairly new subspecialty, experience and knowledge may be lacking in many services. A continuous effort however should be made to obtain as much formal or informal training for staff working in palliative care services and it should be understood that although palliative care comprises of a lot of good basic medical care, there are specific areas of care that require specialized training and knowledge just like any other medical sub- specialty. 8.2 Training of nurses 8.2.1 Nurses new to the concept of palliative care should also undergo a period of in-house training and supervision to introduce them to the field.8.2.2 Formal training in the form of an advanced diploma in palliative care nursing may be available in the near future and all services should look towards encouraging such formal training among staff who are interested. 8.2.3 Clinical attachments and short courses in palliative care are also helpful to provide informal training by centres where more expertise is available. 8.3 Training of medical officers 8.3.1 All medical officers newly assigned to a palliative care unit or service should undergo a period of basic training in palliative care skills and knowledge in order to enable them to understand the philosophy of care and management of patients in the palliative care setting.