Palliative care education is still poor in Mexico. At the undergraduate level, the principles of palliative care and pain control are taught to medical students at the Universidad Autónoma de Guadalajara (Autonomous University of Guadalajara). A combination of theoretical and practical exercises is encouraged amongst medical students on different palliative care and pain related topics.²⁷

Specialist palliative care training programmes, however, do not exist yet and most palliative care education is provided through courses and lectures. For instance, in 1997, Dr. Silvia Allende coordinated a multidisciplinary palliative care course for physicians, nurses, psychologists and social workers. During 2003 and 2004, a two year palliative medicine course directed by Dr. Francisco Mayer has been carried out for physicians interested in the subject.²⁸

Dr Argelia Lara describes the situation of palliative care education in Mexico as follows:

“I think that there is an empty gap in palliative care education in Mexico. There are still very few people specially trained in palliative care. Many [people] have been self-trained, which I do not think is wrong. But, I think that here it would be very helpful to receive more educative opportunities especially from abroad [in places that, because of their academic tradition, could guarantee an integral professional training of good quality taking advantages of the experience accumulated by groups that started several decades ago as it is the case of European countries]. It would be ideal to be able to wider the possibilities for academic exchange in order to [allow health professionals interested in the subject of palliative care getting to know about different modalities of care]. Many people devoted to palliative care in Mexico are doing it with lots of good intention, but I do believe that we lack training, and our speciality lacks formality. [We need to improve the educative level of our health personnel and to give more formality and regulation to this area in Medicine. In consequence, because so few people have received formal education in palliative care in Mexico, it is difficult to educate the rest of the population]”.²⁹
NB: interview transcription edited by Dr. Argelia Lara (29-09-04).

Dr Mayer describes some educational activities undertaken as follows:

“Just, occasionally, we carry out courses during the year either at the Institute or in other states in the country. But, we are still at a phase of sensitization [of health professionals in palliative care issues]”. ³⁰