Education of patient groups on nutrition
The workshop was in June 2017 in Zagreb, and the digital platform should be developed in September
Workshop and round table Patients
The main problem that we face is that 70% of cancer patients in Croatia die from tumor cachexia. Due to this raising awareness on importance of nutrition in patients with chronic disease is essential. By organizing workshops and lectures for 11 oncology patient groups in Croatia, monthly individual advice for about 50 patients during one year, gathering Q&A for use of other patients with similar diseases we plan to raise awareness on the importance of nutrition support.
11 cancer patient groups and three inflammatory diseases patient groups have been gathered and tested for knowledge about the importance of nutrition in self-management of the disease. Also, their media culture was tested and their use of different media to find information. Furthermore, a lecture was organized on Tumor cachexia that was followed by many specific questions of patient representatives.
The workshop was finalized with a panel discussion on the needs of patient groups regarding nutrition and how nutrition helps patients maintain their quality of life. A discussion was held about what the needs of patients are regarding information, what sources of information they find reliable, what are their greatest fears regarding their disease etc. Useful information was gathered through the discussion on how to develop further activities compatible with the needs of patient groups.
Results
An introduction workshop was delivered for 14 patient groups: 11 oncology groups and three inflammatory disease groups. A digital platform will be prepared that will provide individual advice for the patients from nutrition experts, mainly for cancer patients, but also for other patient groups. Lastly, on the workshop needs of patients suffering from inflammatory diseases were also detected.
KUZ
GOCommunications Director
Darija Vranešić Bender, BSc, PhD, Croatian Medical Association
E-mail: dvranesi@kbc-zagreb.hr
Contact person for all segments
Sara Cobal, MSc, Croatian Medical Association
E-mail: Cobal.epode@hlz.hr
