Abstract
Recently Dr. Claudia Naylor visited our Program. She is a palliative care physician and the Director of the Cancer Hospital IV of the National Cancer Institute of Brazil. My team and I felt better prepared to meet with her after having read the recent paper published in PCRT. 1 I was impressed to learn that she heads an inpatient palliative care hospital in Brazil with 56 beds. There is no such institution in the United States where so many beds are exclusively dedicated for such a patient population. Indeed, it was a revelation for me that in a developing country there is a strong commitment at the national level. I am curious to know how things are in other countries.
Clearly from Mr Floriani's paper, there is a lot more to be done, as I am sure is the case in other places. 1 With the sharing of information and knowledge via an open access journal like PCRT, more questions are bound to be generated in the curious and inquisitive minds all over the world. Surely there are also going to be observations, suggestions and comments. Some of them might be related to methodology, data gathered or its interpretation etc., in studies published.2,3
PCRT offers all of us the opportunity to leave comments related to any paper that is published. As interested as I am to read the papers, I am also very interested to read the information shared in the comments section. This provides fertile ground for knowledge to be exchanged and for it to grow. Comments will not only help the readers but also the authors as it will give them the reader's perspective. If a thought comes to mind while you are reading a paper, I invite you to leave a comment as an opportunity to educate others and to ask or answer questions that are generated.
This is a unique opportunity offered by the journal for us to share our knowledge and experiences. I hope this opportunity is one we as palliative care professionals will not miss. I look forward to your contributions. Wish you a Happy New Year.