A pilot study of interprofessional palliative care education of medical students in the UK and USA (original) (raw)
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The evaluation of a national interprofessional palliative care workshop
Journal of Interprofessional Care, 2015
The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of a palliative/end-of-life care workshop on students' perceptions of professional identity, team understanding and their readiness for interprofessional education (IPE). A before-and-after design was used combining both qualitative and quantitative methods. A survey was completed by 25 undergraduate students from a variety of health care professional schools across Canada, both before and after they attended the five-day workshop. There was a significant increase in students' readiness for IPE, perceptions of professional identity, and team understanding after they attended the palliative care workshop. Students stated that learning about other professionals' background and becoming more sensitive to other team members and their scopes of practice, helped change the way they would practice. The findings from this study will contribute to our understanding of student attitudes around IPE and palliative care.
Palliative Medicine, 2016
Background: Effective undergraduate education is required to enable newly qualified doctors to safely care for patients with palliative care and end-of-life needs. The status of palliative care teaching for UK medical students is unknown. Aim: To investigate palliative care training at UK medical schools and compare with data collected in 2000. Design: An anonymised, web-based multifactorial questionnaire. Settings/participants: Results were obtained from palliative care course organisers at all 30 medical schools in 2013 and compared with 23 medical schools (24 programmes) in 2000. Results: All continue to deliver mandatory teaching on ‘last days of life, death and bereavement’. Time devoted to palliative care teaching time varied (2000: 6–100 h, mean 20 h; 2013: 7–98 h, mean 36 h, median 25 h). Current palliative care teaching is more integrated. There was little change in core topics and teaching methods. New features include ‘involvement in clinical areas’, participation of pati...
Excellence in Postlicensure Interprofessional Palliative Care Education
Journal of Hospice & Palliative Nursing, 2019
An increasing number of palliative care educational programs strive to meet the workforce need for palliative care clinicians. This growth necessitates development of robust quality standards. The purpose of this Delphi consensus process was to describe high-quality postlicensure interprofessional palliative care education programs. The steering committee, composed of 6 faculty with experience implementing interprofessional palliative care educational programs, developed initial characteristics, definitions, and subcategories, which were refined through a series of 3 iterative Delphi surveys and a public presentation at a national palliative care meeting. More than 50 palliative care clinicians and educators representing multiple professions were invited to participate in the Delphi surveys; 20 completed round 1, 23 completed round 2, and 15 participants completed round 3. The final consensus included 6 characteristics with definitions, and both required and recommended subcategories for each characteristic. Identified characteristics include competencies, content, educational strategies, interprofessional focus, evaluation, and systems integration. This initial description of quality for postlicensure interprofessional palliative care education programs may be used by learners to guide program selection, new or existing program faculty for course development or quality improvement, or professional organizations to evaluate program quality in a program certification or quality award initiative.
BMC Family Practice, 2014
Background: There is a growing need for palliative care. The majority of palliative patients prefer their general practitioner (GP) to organize their palliative home care. General practitioners need a range of competences to perform this task. However, there has been no general description so far of how GPs keep these competences up-to-date. The present study explores current experiences, views and preferences towards training and education in palliative care among GPs, palliative home-care professionals and professionals from organizations who provide training and education. Methods: Five focus groups were brought together in Belgium, with a total of 29 participants, including members of the three categories mentioned above. They were analysed using a constant comparison method. Results: The analysis revealed that undergraduate education and continuing medical education (CME) while in practice, is insufficient to prepare GPs for their palliative work. Workplace learning (WPL) through collaboration with specialized palliative home-care nurses seems to be a valuable alternative. Conclusions: The effectiveness of undergraduate education might be enhanced by adding practical experience. Providers of continuing medical education should look to organize interactive, practice-based and interprofessional sessions. Therefore, teachers need to be trained to run small group discussions. In order to optimize workplace learning, health care professionals should be trained to monitor each other's practice and to provide effective feedback. Further research is needed to clarify which aspects of interprofessional teamwork (e.g. professional hierarchy, agreements on tasks and responsibilities) influence the effectiveness of workplace learning.
Palliative Medicine
Background: A proportion of newly qualified doctors report feeling unprepared to manage patients with palliative care and end-of-life needs. This may be related to barriers within their institution during undergraduate training. Information is limited regarding the current organisation of palliative care teaching across UK medical schools. Aims: To investigate the evolution and structure of palliative care teaching at UK medical schools. Design: Anonymised, web-based questionnaire. Settings/participants: Results were obtained from palliative care course organisers at all 30 UK medical schools. Results: The palliative care course was established through active planning (13/30, 43%), ad hoc development (10, 33%) or combination of approaches (7, 23%). The place of palliative care teaching within the curriculum varied. A student-selected palliative care component was offered by 29/30 (97%). All medical schools sought student feedback. The course was reviewed in 26/30 (87%) but not in 4....
Incorporating palliative care into undergraduate curricula: lessons for curriculum development
Medical Education, 2009
CONTEXT It is well recognised that teaching about palliative care, death and dying should begin at undergraduate level. The General Medical Council in the UK has issued clear recommendations for core teaching on the relieving of pain and distress, and care for the terminally ill. However, whereas some medical schools have incorporated comprehensive teaching programmes, others provide very little. The reasons underpinning such variability are unknown. OBJECTIVES The aim of this study was to explore the factors that help or hinder the incorporation of palliative care teaching at undergraduate level in the UK. METHODS Semi-structured interviews were carried out with a purposive sample of coordinators of palliative care teaching in 14 medical schools in the UK. Transcribed interviews were analysed using principles of grounded theory and respondent validation. RESULTS There are several factors promoting or inhibiting palliative care teaching at undergraduate level that are common to the development of teaching about any specialty. However, this study also revealed several factors that are distinctive to palliative care. Emergent themes were 'need for an individual lead or champion', 'the curriculum', 'patient characteristics and exposure', 'local colleagues and setup of service', 'university support' and 'the influence of students'. CONCLUSIONS The incorporation of palliative care into the medical undergraduate curriculum involves a complex process of individual, institutional, clinical, patient and curricular factors. These new findings could help medical schools to incorporate or improve such teaching.
Canadian medical education journal, 2016
Reliance on surveys and qualitative studies of trainees to guide postgraduate education about palliative and end of life (EOL) communication may lead to gaps in the curriculum. We aimed to develop a deeper understanding of internal medicine trainees' educational needs for a palliative and EOL communication curriculum and how these needs could be met. Mixed methods, including a survey and focus groups with trainees, and interviews with clinical faculty and medical educators, were applied to develop a broader perspective on current experiences and needs for further education. Quantitative descriptive and thematic analyses were conducted. Surveyed trainees were least confident and least satisfied with teaching in counseling about the emotional impact of emergencies and discussing organ donation. Direct observation with feedback, small group discussion, and viewing videos of personal consultations were perceived as effective, yet infrequently identified as instructional methods. Foc...
BMJ supportive & palliative care, 2014
Palliative care (PC) education has become a priority in many European countries where PC is quickly developing. There remains, however, a lack of information on acceptability and medical students' experiences in PC education. This kind of information is important because it could encourage universities to adapt their curricula appropriately to the demographic and societal necessity. To explore medical students' reactions to an optional PC course using their reflective written comments. 316 medical students at the University of Navarra, over a period of 4 years, wrote evaluative comments regarding their experience and what they perceived as the course's contribution to their education. With these comments, a qualitative thematic analysis was carried out. With a response ratio of 90%, five main themes were identified: (1) The course helped medical students to become and act as doctors, (2) The benefits of having a holistic view of the patient and taking the family into acc...
Current Opinion in Supportive & Palliative Care, 2018
Purpose of review The aim of this review is to understand how palliative care teaching (PCT) as a patient-centered learning model, influences medical undergraduate students’ professional development. Recent findings To study PCT medical undergraduate students’ learning experiences, we have employed the medical teaching concept, ‘hidden curriculum,’ as a way of describing attitudes and behavior conveyed implicitly by palliative care educators. Fifteen studies were selected: ten of those studies used a qualitative approach; two are theoretical explanations of the topic explored, one guideline, one review and just one quantitative study, made up the review. Medical undergraduate students reported that after PCT, they felt they had acquired better attitudes for effective integration with the patient, such as empathy or holistic care; ethical principles, such as respect or humanization of their clinical practice; and commitment to an improvement in competences, such as self-awareness or ...