Teaching the difficult-to-teach topics

Abstract

It is now accepted that teaching in palliative medicine should be integrated throughout the medical undergraduate curriculum. Recommendations suggest the inclusion of knowledge areas such as symptom control, as well as more attitudinal aspects such as teamwork and understanding patient and carer perspectives on illness. These subjects should be taught on a stepwise basis, introducing concepts at an early stage and then be built on throughout training. However, how this is done and how effectively all aspects are taught vary considerably. This article outlines one way of using patient and carer experiences of significant illness, and multi-disciplinary teams, to teach attitudinal concepts behind palliative care to medical students early in their undergraduate careers. Palliative care is considered here in a broad sense, with the relevance to all healthcare professionals emphasised, and specialist palliative care used as an example of holistic care. The sessions consisted of small group discussions with patient and carer representatives as well as discussions with various members of the multi-disciplinary team. These were led by the patient/carer/professionals' experiences and further explored with facilitated questions by the students. The sessions have been evaluated well by all involved, including patients, carers, multi-disciplinary team members and palliative medicine doctors. The learning objectives (to understand patient perspectives, multi-disciplinary working and holistic care) were achieved, along with discussion of professionalism.

Threading the cloak: palliative care education for care providers of adolescents and young adults with cancer

“…For example, knowledge areas such as opioid conversion may be taught in calculation tutorials, whereas attitudinal areas such as truth-telling require theoretical teaching with mentored clinical exposure. 47 , 48 In the setting of minimal protected curricular time and a shortage of palliative care providers, intentional exposure to diverse teaching modalities equips instructors with practical teaching tools and enables learners with an accessible knowledge base ( Table 2 ). The reality of palliative care as a young and an understaffed field has led to the prioritization of educating trainees as palliative care champions to share their knowledge in local settings.…”

Cuidados paliativos: inserção do ensino nas escolas médicas do Brasil

“…Segundo MacPherson et al 34 , o ensino deve estar integrado no currículo da graduação, e recomenda-se a inclusão de áreas de conhecimentos como controle de sintomas, trabalho em equipe e cuidado da pessoa desde as etapas básicas do adoecimento.…”

Palliative Care in Undergraduate Medical Education—How Far Have We Come?

“…All articles indicated improvements in student knowledge, attitudes, and/or preparedness to practice palliative care concepts compared to no intervention. 5,6,19,42 –93 Most articles used pretest/posttest surveys or qualitative analysis of student reflections to evaluate the teaching intervention. Only 1 article was identified that evaluated several different teaching methods against a control to assess optimal strategy for teaching regarding cancer pain.…”