Knowledge of Medical Students on Palliative Care Before and After Participating in a Palliative Care Course
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Abstract
Background: Knowledge on palliative care is important for physicians. An appropriate teaching formats will improve the knowledge and confidence of medical students on providing palliative care to patients in need. This study aimed to assess knowledge on palliative care of medical students before and after participating in medical curriculum to improve teaching and learning in this course.
Materials and method: An observational study was conducted in one medical school in the south of Thailand. An online questionnaire was used to assess the 5th year medical students’ knowledge on palliative care before and after taking a regular palliative care course.The questionnaire contains 17 questions. The reliability using Kuder-Richardson-20 was at 0.7.
Results: 75 medical students (61.5%) voluntarily completed questionnaire before and after finishing the course. The median knowledge score before and after taking the course were 9.0 (IQR = 8.5-10.0) and 10.0 (IQR = 9.0-13.0), respectively. The knowledge of medical students did not improve significantly after taking the course except those related to pain controls. Students reported having more confidence and experienced at the end of the course. The knowledge score was not significantly associated with the neither confidence nor the experience with palliative care.
Conclusion: The present teaching methods might not increase the knowledge and
confidence of medical students in providing palliative care for patients. The palliative care curriculum should incorporate more teaching technics especially using simulated patient for training on communication skills. In addition, providing elective courses is essential for student to gain more experience on palliative care.
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