International and national policies and regulations on palliative care training: coherences, gaps and challenges
Keywords:
Palliative care; Medical Education; Health Regulations; CubaAbstract
International regulations (WHO, Council of Europe, EAPC, EDUPALL) recognize palliative care as essential in healthcare training, but its implementation in undergraduate curricula is uneven and often merely declarative. In Cuba, although the Constitution and resolutions of the Ministry of Public Health (MINSAP) guarantee comprehensive and humanized care, palliative care is not explicitly mandated as a core competency in undergraduate studies, leading to its curricular invisibility. This misalignment between health policies and educational processes limits the preparation of professionals to care for patients with advanced illnesses. The development of a national palliative care strategy presents an opportunity to explicitly integrate these competencies, with defined objectives, content, and assessments. This article proposes a curricular integration model adapted to the Cuban context to reduce the gap between regulations, curriculum, and clinical practice.
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