“The education is a mirror of where palliative care stands in Israel today”: An exploration of palliative care undergraduate education at medical schools in Israel

Abstract

Objective Israel serves as a case study for understanding the importance of undergraduate palliative care (PC) education in implementing, developing, and enabling access to palliative care services. This article presents the findings collected from the five medical schools. Method This qualitative study supported by a survey explores and describes the state of undergraduate PC education at medical schools in Israel. The survey included questions on voluntary and mandatory courses, allocation of different course models, teaching methods, time frame, content, institutions involved, and examinations. Semi-structured interviews with teaching faculty were conducted at the same locations. Results Eleven expert interviews and five surveys demonstrate that PC is taught as a mandatory subject at only two out of the five Israeli universities. To enhance PC in Israel, it needs to become a mandatory subject for all undergraduate medical students. To teach communication, cultural safety, and other basic competencies, new interactive teaching forms need to be developed and adapted. In this regard, nationwide cooperation is proposed. An exchange between medical schools and university clinics is seen as beneficial. The new generation of students is open to PC philosophy and multidimensional care provision but resources to support their growth as professionals and people remain limited. Significance of results This study underlines the importance of teaching in PC at medical schools. Undergraduate education is a central measure of PC status and should be used as such worldwide. The improvement of the teaching situation would automatically lead to a better practical implementation for the benefit of people. Medical schools should cooperate, as the formation of expertise exchange across medical schools would automatically lead to better PC education.

European interprofessional postgraduate curriculum in palliative care: A narrative synthesis of field interviews in the region of Middle, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe and Central and West Asia

“…The landscape of palliative care education and training is changing rapidly, but it can be perceived as a mirror of a country's palliative care status (Elsner et al 2022). Online teaching, webinars, massive open online courses, escape rooms, and serious games have become available since the first Covid-19-wave (Gatsios et al 2021;Wilcha 2020).…”

“…In the vast majority of Western European countries, palliative care is recognized as a specialty, subspecialty, or specific area of competence (Arias-Casais et al 2019b). There are some indications from high-income countries, such as Israel (Elsner et al 2022) and Austria (Toussaint et al 2022), that the results of the European Association for Palliative Care (EAPC) Atlas may be too auspicious. In all countries, access to postgraduate education and training is evolving, and there is enormous potential to learn from each other's experiences, which is why there is a need for continuous exchange on this issue.…”

Nurturing Socioculturally and Medically Appropriate Palliative Care Delivery: Lessons Learned by Israeli Medical Faculty

“…In Israel, the infrastructure for teaching and specialization is improving. All medical schools (Elsner et al, 2021 ), three hospitals, and one ambulatory health service provide training in PC. A private company providing hospice services is approved as a venue for rotation for physicians during their PC training (IMA, 2022 ).…”

“…Nevertheless, PC services are provided mostly to cancer patients (Shaulov et al, 2019 ). Exploring obstacles to PC implementation may help to fill the gap and, furthermore, improve the country’s overall healthcare system quality (Elsner et al, 2021 ). Second, Israel is a highly diverse country.…”

Entwicklung der universitären palliativmedizinischen Lehre in Österreich: ein Scoping Review

“…Diese beziehen ihre Informationen dazu aus den Aussagen einzelner Schlüsselpersonen, die zu sämtlichen Universitäten eines gesamten Landes Stellung beziehen sollten. Dass diese Angaben abhängig von der Expertise der befragten Person und der Vernetzung der Universitäten innerhalb eines Landes abhängig sind und dementsprechend nicht immer für alle Universitäten zutreffend sein müssen, zeigt eine frühere Arbeit zu universitärer palliativmedizinischer Lehre in Israel [38]. Durch die Befragung der Schlüsselpersonen der einzelnen Universitäten innerhalb eines Landes könnten die Daten zu Palliative Care als Pflichtfach überprüft und ggf.…”