The Annual Irish Association for Palliative Care (IAPC) Education and Research Seminar is the premier meeting for those engaged in, and interested in palliative care research in Ireland.

The Seminar promotes and disseminates research in palliative care and related areas, through the submission of abstracts for Platform and Poster presentation, and is a vibrant learning and sharing day.

Recognising that best practice in palliative care is enabled through education and research, the Seminar provides a unique platform for palliative care practitioners and researchers to present their research to their peers and interested parties.

It serves not only as a point of discussion for evidence-based research through oral and poster presentations, it is also a springboard for researchers aspiring to bring their work to international fora and to publication. The Seminar also provides a pathway to greater dissemination for those wishing to publish and present at other national and international gatherings.

The Seminar Aims to …

• Provide an opportunity for Palliative Care researchers to present oral or poster presentations to a range of professionals who work in diverse clinical and academic settings
• Enable health care professionals in Palliative Care and related areas to network and share ideas and to debate issues around palliative care research and education in Ireland
• Provides a platform to greater dissemination for those wishing to publish and present at other national and international gatherings

Prize Winning Research

At each Annual Education and Research Seminar, one platform presentation and one poster presentation is awarded the Mundipharma Educational Bursary for best platform and best poster presentation, sponsored by Mundipharma Pharmaceuticals.

A dedicated panel of judges adjudicate these prizes on the day of the Seminar.

Videos of the Presentations from the IAPC Annual Education and Research Seminars 2010-2017 are available here

The 2017 Winners were:

Platform Presentation:     Cancer-Related Fatigue: Evaluation by Mobile Electrophysiology.    Dr Brenda O’Connor, Consultant in Palliative Medicine

Poster Presentation:  Resilience: A qualitative exploration of community palliative nurses’ experience of resilience in their daily work.  Lorraine Clancy, Clinical Nurse Specialist, Our Lady’s Hospice & Care Services, Blackrock Hospice, Dublin.

Previous Winners:

2015 – Platform Presentation Winner: Bereavement Outcomes of Family Caregivers – Do spousal and adult child caregivers experience bereavement differently, and what factors influence this?, Dr Sarah McLean, Specialist Registrar in Palliative Medicine, *Blackrock Hospice, Dublin

2015 – Poster Presentation Winner: Preparing for Stillbirth in Cases of Perinatal Lethal Diagnosis, Orla O’Connell, Cork University Maternity Hospital

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2014 – Platform Presentation Winner: Implementing a framework to measure patient complexity and associated service activity in community palliative care – Dr Faith Cranfield, *Medical Lead – Homecare, St Francis Hospice, Dublin

2014 – Poster Presentation Winner: Quality Performance Improvement in Opioid Prescribing and Dispensing at an Irish Regional Hospital, Dr Des McMahon, Specialist Registrar in Palliative Medicine, *Waterford Regional Hospital

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2013 – Platform Presentation Winner: A systematic review of palliative care research in Ireland – preliminary findings, Dr Tara Murphy, Programme Manager – Research, All Ireland Institute of Hospice and Palliative Care

2013 – Poster Presentation Winner: Difficult management in a rural home care setting of service escalating pain resulting from rapidly growing skull metastases in a metastatic Ewing sarcoma, Dr Wilhelm Freiherr von Hornstein, Consultant in Palliative Medicine, Specialist Palliative Care Service Cavan/Monaghan

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2012 – Platform Presentation Winner: Self Reported Symptom Burden in Prevalent Haemodialysis Patients in South West Ireland, Dr Aoife Lowney, *Registrar in Palliative Medicine, *Marymount Hospice, Cork

2012 – Poster Presentation Winner: My understanding of the role of a doctor has been seriously reshaped: the impact of an Undergraduate Special Study Module in Palliative Medicine, Dr Catherine Sweeney, Lecturer in Clinical Science and Practice, School of Medicine & Health, University College Cork

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2011 – Platform Presentation Winner: End of Life Care – What information do we need? A Survey of Irish family doctors, Dr Fiona Kiely, *Registrar, Marymount Hospice, Cork

2011 – Poster Presentation Winner: A social work audit of the granting of HSE medical cards to patients receiving palliative care from specialist palliative care services in Ireland, David McEvoy, Medical Social Worker, Palliative Care Service, Meath

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2010 – Platform Presentation Winner: Palliative Medicine – a learning opportunity for the undergraduate, Dr Pauline Kane, *Specialist Registrar in Palliative Medicine, *Beaumont Hospital, Dublin

2010 – Poster Presentation Winner: Capturing the Invisible: a survey of Deathbed Phenomena (DBP) in an Irish hospice, Dr Una MacConville & Dr Regina McQuillan, Consultant in Palliative Medicine, St Francis Hospice, Dublin

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2009 – Platform Presentation Winner: Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) group intervention for bereaved spouses with complicated grief, Dr Clare Brady, Clinical Psychologist, *NUI Galway

2009 – Poster Presentation Winner: An audit of bowel management, Geraldine Tracey, Advanced Nurse Practitioner, Our Lady’s Hospice, Dublin

*Denotes place of work and work title at the time of the Seminar – this may have subsequently changed.