A survey of competencies and concerns in end-of-life care for physician trainees

End-of-life care in Toronto neonatal intensive care units: challenges for physician trainees: Table 1

“…Previous studies have shown that it is common for healthcare professionals, particularly trainees, to indicate limited comfort with discussions surrounding EOL care 2 15 16. Graduating neonatology trainees are highly trained in the technical skills necessary to care for critically ill and dying neonates, but are inadequately trained in the communication skills that families identify as critically important when facing EOL decisions 17.…”

“…It has been shown that physicians are less likely to initiate EOL discussions when they believe they lack the needed interpersonal skills 2. Recently, these skills have been receiving more attention in medical training; EOL education has been enhanced and integrated into curricula of many residency and fellowship training programmes 6 – 9.…”

Instruments used to measure the effectiveness of palliative care education initiatives at the undergraduate level: a critical literature review

“…To address this issue, Weisman et al 49 recommend correlating indicators of perceived levels of competence with observed performance in OSCEs. Although not without limitations, the method has been used extensively in the assessment of palliative care competency 50.…”

What questionnaires exist to measure the perceived competence of generalists in palliative care provision? A critical literature review

“…Study designs were descriptive14 16 18 20–22 24 30 and evaluative 15 17 19 23 25 27–29 31 32. The evaluative studies dealt particularly with measuring skills and knowledge development as the result of education programmes.…”

“…Slatten (personal communication) reported that the instrument has since been reduced from 176 items to 26 items and renamed the Nurse's Clinical Core Competence in Palliative Care 33. Weissman et al reported only on the number of completed questionnaires and not on the sample size 18. Bradley et al and Landmark et al did not report their response rates 20 25.…”