• Steven Walker, Jane Gibbins, Stephen Barclay, Astrid Adams, Paul Paes, Madawa Chandratilake, Faye Gishen, Philip Lodge, and Bee Wee.
• Marie Curie Hospice, Hampstead, London, UK Centre for Medical Education, University of Dundee, Dundee, UK St Giles Medical, London, UK steven.walker@stgmed.com.
• Palliat Med. 2016 Oct 1; 30 (9): 834-42.

BackgroundEffective 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.AimTo investigate palliative care training at UK medical schools and compare with data collected in 2000.DesignAn anonymised, web-based multifactorial questionnaire.Settings/ParticipantsResults were obtained from palliative care course organisers at all 30 medical schools in 2013 and compared with 23 medical schools (24 programmes) in 2000.ResultsAll 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 patient and carers and attendance at multidisciplinary team meetings. Hospice visits are offered (22/24 (92%) vs 27/30 (90%)) although they do not always involve patient contact. There has been an increase in students' assessments (2000: 6/24, 25% vs 2013: 25/30, 83%) using a mixture of formative and summative methods. Some course organisers lack an overview of what is delivered locally.ConclusionUndergraduate palliative care training continues to evolve with greater integration, increased teaching, new delivery methods and wider assessment. There is a trend towards increased patient contact and clinical involvement. A minority of medical schools offer limited teaching and patient contact which could impact on the delivery of safe palliative care by newly qualified doctors.© The Author(s) 2016.

14 keywords...

hide…