Online training course 'should support oncologists'

An e-learning course could improve healthcare standards across the world.Collaboration between the European School of Oncology (ESO), the Helsinn Group and a number of international pharmaceutical companies has resulted in the Sharing Progress in Cancer Care (SPCC) programme.This initiative enables junior oncologists and other related professionals to take part in distance learning online, with a variety of digital training schemes providing important information about healthcare issues such as emesis in cancer and supportive care.The ESO was set up in 1982 with the aim of reducing the number of people who die from cancer as a result of poor treatment or late diagnosis.Its online learning tools are designed to help it achieve this goal, with the organisation stressing that education and studying are a vital part of caring for patients.Every health professional with clients suffering from cancer can benefit from the ESO's tools, which aims to combine humanism in care with advances in technology, the body stated.The group will celebrate its 30th anniversary soon and will host the World Oncology Forum's Lugano special event on October 26th and 27th to mark this event.Furthermore, the Helsinn Group is a pharmaceutical brand headquartered in Switzerland, with operating subsidiaries in the US and Ireland.Director of the Multidisciplinary Oncology Institute at Switzerland's Clinique de Genolier Dr Matti Aapro said the SPCC virtual learning environment should provide people suffering from cancer and people in oncology healthcare with "some significant benefits".The e-learning scheme "improves the skills of the health professionals dealing with cancer patients and accelerates the transfer of knowledge from advanced research centres to daily practice", he added."We are proud to start this collaboration with ESO; it is aimed at effectively favouring the education in cancer supportive care and represents a step further in the accomplishment of the mission of our company," Helsinn Group chief executive officer Riccardo Braglia noted.