History of palliative care in Greater Poland. Part II.
Education in Poznań university centre 1988-2002

Poznań Palliative Care University Centre, the first Clinical Department of palliative care in Poland and middle-east Europe, was from 1988 to 2002 the leading educational centre in the field. Thanks to international cooperation established and support of Ministry of Health a vast array of courses on various levels were organized both for undergraduates and postgraduates – physicians, nurses, psychologists and other medical professionals on a basic and advanced levels, for leaders and future specialists in palliative care. The very fruitful professional cooperation with Sir Michael Sobell House Oxford, WHO collaborating Palliative Care Center and financial support from the Ministry of Health as well as British and American organizations – International School for Cancer Care and Open Society Institute in New York (financed by George Soros and represented in Poland by Stefan Batory Fund) allowed for education of many Polish physicians in leading palliative care centres in Great Britain. It is worth noting that both the diversity of subjects as well as selection of teachers show that the education organized by Poznań center was- unlike many other educational activities of the time in medicine – focused not only on providing excellent knowledge but also on changing attitudes of those caring for patients in their last days of lives.