Palliative care medical education in European Universities: a descriptive study and numerical scoring system proposal for assessing educational development

Carrasco, J. M., Lynch, T. J., Garralda, E., Woitha, K., Elsner, F., Filbet, M., Ellershaw, J. E., Clark, D. and Centeno, C. (2015) Palliative care medical education in European Universities: a descriptive study and numerical scoring system proposal for assessing educational development. Journal of Pain and Symptom Management, 50(4), 516-523.e2. (doi: 10.1016/j.jpainsymman.2015.04.019) (PMID:26025273)

[img]
Preview
Text
109269.pdf - Published Version

446kB

Abstract

Context: The lack of palliative medicine (PM) education has been identified as a barrier to the development of the discipline. A number of international institutions have called for its implementation within undergraduate medical curricula. Objectives: The objectives are to describe the situation of undergraduate PM education in Europe and to propose a scoring system to evaluate its status. Methods: This descriptive study was conducted with data provided by key experts from countries of the World Health Organization European Region (n = 53). A numerical scoring system was developed through consensus techniques. Results: Forty-three countries (81%) provided the requested information. In 13 countries (30%), a PM course is taught in all medical schools, being compulsory in six of them (14%). In 15 countries (35%), PM is taught in at least one university. In 14 countries (33%), PM is not taught within medical curricula. A full professor of PM was identified in 40% of countries. Three indicators were developed to construct a scale (rank 0–100) of educational development: 1) proportion of medical schools that teach PM (weight = 32%); 2) proportion of medical schools that offer PM as a compulsory subject (weight = 40%); 3) total number of PM professors (weight = 28%). The highest level of PM educational development was found in Israel, Norway, the U.K., Belgium, France, Austria, Germany, and Ireland. Conclusion: PM is taught in a substantial number of undergraduate medical programs at European universities, and a qualified teaching structure is emerging; however, there is a wide variation in the level of PM educational development between individual countries.

Item Type:Articles
Status:Published
Refereed:Yes
Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID:Clark, Professor David
Authors: Carrasco, J. M., Lynch, T. J., Garralda, E., Woitha, K., Elsner, F., Filbet, M., Ellershaw, J. E., Clark, D., and Centeno, C.
College/School:College of Social Sciences > School of Social & Environmental Sustainability
Journal Name:Journal of Pain and Symptom Management
Publisher:Elsevier Inc.
ISSN:0885-3924
ISSN (Online):1873-6513
Copyright Holders:Copyright © 2015 The Authors
First Published:First published in Journal of Pain and Symptom Management 50(4):516-523.e2
Publisher Policy:Reproduced in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher.

University Staff: Request a correction | Enlighten Editors: Update this record