The CODE-YAA project CODE YAA – Palliative Care Education, which aims to enhance the quality of education in palliative care, was prominently featured at the 19th World Congress of the European Association for Palliative Care (EAPC), held in Helsinki, Finland, on 29–30 May 2025.
On Saturday, 31 May at 8:00 AM, Professor Piret Paal co-chaired an open meeting of the EAPC Reference Group on Education and Training alongside Professor Frank Elsner. She presented the main goals and current progress of the CODE-YAA project and led a discussion on key challenges and future directions in palliative care education. Also Prof. Paal said that the newly published EAPC Atlas highlights the urgent need to prioritize high-quality palliative and end-of-life care, emphasizing that the focus must shift from the quantity to the quality of education and training, as current practices in palliative care education and training remain far from sustainable.
Project Vice Chair Minna Hökkä reports on the congress: ‘The congress provided a valuable platform for sharing new innovations in palliative care education with the international palliative care community. It also facilitated the development of new networks and collaborations, as well as the exchange of experiences and knowledge.’
Other CODE-YAA team members — including Prof. Frank Elsner, Cathy Pane, and dr Leszek Pawłowski — actively participated in the discussion.
Dr. Mary Nevin shared an update on the Delphi study currently being conducted as part of the CODE-YAA initiative.
In addition, a poster titled: “Defining the Quality Indicators for Palliative Care Education: Updates from the EU COST-Funded CODE-YAA Project (COllaboratively DEveloped culturallY Appropriate and inclusive Assessment tool for Palliative Care Education)” by Stephen Mason, Tania Pastrana, Anna Pedrosa, Mary Nevin, Minna Hökkä, and Piret Paal, on behalf of Working Group 1 (WG1) was presented by prof. Piret Paal.
The abstract of the poster is available in the official abstract book of the Congress, link here.
Several members of the CODE-YAA project were actively involved in the Congress — as speakers, chairs, and contributors — demonstrating the project’s strong presence in the European palliative care community.
