Perception of Palliative Care among Medical Students in a Teaching Hospital

Abstract

Introduction:Palliative care is an approach that improves the quality of life of patients and their families facing the problems associated with life-threatening illness. Palliative care must be a part of every medical personnel's practice. But still medical education curriculums have not included palliative care in its syllabus, sufficiently due to which most of the health professional are not aware about this specialty. The purpose of this study is to find out the perception of the medical students in palliative care in a teaching hospital. Methods:A descriptive study was done among 270 undergraduate medical students studying in Institute of Medicine using a self structured pretested questionnaire. Data was entered in Microsoft Excel and analyzed by using SPSS 21.Results: Of the total 270 undergraduate medical students only 152 has heard the word "palliative care". Only 84 students know, palliative care can be provided early in the life threatening illness. Total 80 students know it doesn't intend to postpone and hasten death. Though only 49 students didn't know PC is not included in our curriculum, 227 are interested to learn about it if given any opportunity. Conclusions:The perception of palliative care medicine is low in first couple of year of medical study. It is increased in clinically exposed students but is surprisingly more in fourth year than final year undergraduate medical students. However, it should be included in undergraduate medical study.

Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices Regarding Palliative Care: A Mixed-Methods Study from Bihar, India

“…Poor knowledge, attitudes, and practices with respect to palliative care have been reported across several other settings as well. [10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19] Providers struggled to interact with terminal patients and explain poor prognoses to patients and caregivers. Very little research has been done in this field within India, but a comprehensive study by Martis and Westhues analyzed global literature around breaking bad news and found that the level of comfort in discussing terminal disease and prognoses varied based on the cultural acceptation of death in society.…”

“…Poor knowledge, attitudes, and practices with respect to palliative care have been reported across several other settings as well. 10 -19…”

Palliative care services for cancer patients in Nepal, a lower-middle-income country

“…A study conducted in one these institutes had demonstrated inadequate knowledge and perception of palliative care among undergraduate medical students. 24 Palliative care services in Nepal Hospice Nepal is the first formally established modern hospice centre in Nepal which was started in the year 2000 in Kathmandu Valley. 18,25 Currently, there are five hospices dedicated to caring cancer patients and four palliative care units of major cancer hospitals of the country.…”

Conhecimento sobre Cuidados Paliativos em Estudantes de Medicina da Universidade de Coimbra

“…12 Estudos internacionais evidenciam que o conhecimento dos estudantes de Medicina sobre CP é limitado e reforçam a importância de melhorar o ensino médico nesta área. [13][14][15][16][17][18] Os futuros médicos revelam inseguranças face a problemas que dizem respeito a estes cuidados, particularmente a nível psicossocial e espiritual, mostrando que não estão preparados para cuidarem de doentes com doenças terminais e em fim de vida. 13 As incertezas relacionadas com o controlo sintomático e a falta de à vontade para comunicar com estes doentes, são outras dificuldades apontadas pelos estudantes.…”