Education

“I chose to do the MSc in Palliative Medicine at The Cicely Saunders Institute at the beginning of my Palliative Medicine registrar training. I wanted to develop my knowledge and have a good understanding of the evidence-base of the specialty. Having completed the Masters, I feel I have achieved that but also gained a whole lot more! I now feel able not just to appraise the evidence but also to understand and appreciate how to use evidence to develop services, and perform needs assessments, skills which will be invaluable when I become a consultant. It has equipped me with the knowledge-base and skills to undertake my own research and to think critically about service developments within palliative care aiming to achieve high quality care for all. It challenges and inspires!“ Dr Alex RogersDr Alex Rogers

I was inspired to undertake the MSc in Palliative Care at The Cicely Saunders Institute as it provided the opportunity to pursue advanced learning around specific aspects of palliative care such as symptom control, psychosocial wellbeing and ethics alongside development of leadership, management and service development skills. The course particularly appealed as it provided a multi-professional forum for learning and through this the opportunity to learn from other specialists in the field. The Masters has provided a platform to develop my professional expertise from which I have gone on to promote and lead my specialist area of rehabilitation in palliative care at local and national levels. The course has also enabled me to become comfortable and confident with research, both in terms of shaping my clinical practice and service development in accordance with current research and through participation in research to evidence the impact of physiotherapy in palliative care to support patients’ independence and quality of life. I now lead one of the largest teams of Allied Health Professionals (Physiotherapy, Occupational Therapy, Dietetics and Speech and Language Therapy) in Palliative Care in the UK and am passionate about raising awareness of the important contribution AHP’s have to make in this field. Rebecca Tiberini

One of the reasons I applied to do the MSc was to enable me to undertake a particular piece of research I had already formed the idea of and was passionate about. I hoped to learn the skills I would need to begin the research process from the Cicely Saunders Institute and doing the highly regarded MSc programme. Beyond the research project, the MSc pulls together some of the best talkers and current thinkers in Palliative Medicine which allows for up to date learning on a relevant programme, which could not be achieved by other means. I will become a Consultant in Palliative Medicine, and in completing the research-based MSc, I now have the skills to continue research throughout my career, as well as support junior members of my team in pursuing research themselves. I am amazed at how my skills of searching for and criticizing published research have improved, from a baseline I previously thought was quite good! I also have a network of hospice and palliative care specialists through friendships and contacts made on the course. Dr Clare Zane