Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dk4vv Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-21T01:55:47.571Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Medical students’ attitudes towards participating in a palliative medicine course: A new specialty in Israel

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 December 2017

Gil Bar-Sela ,
Inbal Mitnik ,
Daniela Zalman ,
Ezequiel Flechter ,
Hedva Sheinman-Yuffe ,
Simon Vulfsons ,
Sergey Postovsky ,
Bella Smolin ,
Rachel Nave  and
Zaher S. Azzam
Gil Bar-Sela*
Affiliation:
Faculty of Medicine, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Rambam Health Care Campus, Haifa, Israel Division of Oncology, Rambam Health Care Campus, Haifa, Israel
Inbal Mitnik
Affiliation:
Division of Oncology, Rambam Health Care Campus, Haifa, Israel
Daniela Zalman
Affiliation:
Division of Oncology, Rambam Health Care Campus, Haifa, Israel
Ezequiel Flechter
Affiliation:
Division of Oncology, Rambam Health Care Campus, Haifa, Israel
Hedva Sheinman-Yuffe
Affiliation:
Division of Oncology, Rambam Health Care Campus, Haifa, Israel
Simon Vulfsons
Affiliation:
Institute of Pain Medicine, Rambam Health Care Campus, Haifa, Israel
Sergey Postovsky
Affiliation:
Department of Pediatric Hematology-Oncology, Rambam Health Care Campus, Haifa, Israel
Bella Smolin
Affiliation:
Department of Internal Medicine, Rambam Health Care Campus, Haifa, Israel
Rachel Nave
Affiliation:
Faculty of Medicine, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Rambam Health Care Campus, Haifa, Israel
Zaher S. Azzam
Affiliation:
Faculty of Medicine, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Rambam Health Care Campus, Haifa, Israel Department of Internal Medicine, Rambam Health Care Campus, Haifa, Israel
*
Author for correspondence: Gil Bar-Sela, Division of Oncology, Rambam Health Care Campus, POB 9602, Haifa 31096, Israel. Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Background

Palliative medicine is a growing field in Israel, and its training program is still in process. The current study aimed to evaluate students’ attitudes regarding a course in palliative care established in a division of oncology.

Method

Some 45 medical students in their 5th to 6th years participated in a one-week course on palliative care. At the end of each training week, students were asked to complete a questionnaire, evaluating their attitudes regarding different aspects of the program content, such as its importance and relevance to their training as physicians, as well as the contribution of specific parts of the program to their knowledge regarding palliative care.

Results

The overall satisfaction of the 45 students was high. The most contributory parts of the course were the multidisciplinary team and the complementary and alternative medicine. Participating in the staff meetings and accompanying physicians in their daily work were scored as the least contributory parts.

Significance of results

This preliminary study demonstrated students’ overall high satisfaction with the newly established palliative care course and their need for more practical skills. Future studies should investigate and evaluate educational programs in palliative care in order to establish suitable training for medical students.

Keywords

Medical studentsMedical students trainingPalliative medicine course
Type
Original Article
Information
Palliative & Supportive Care , Volume 16 , Issue 5 , October 2018 , pp. 528 - 533
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2017 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bharadwaj, P, Anjali Kakria, V and Alam, T (2007) Survey of palliative care concepts among medical students in India. Journal of Palliative Medicine 10(3), 651–653.Google Scholar
Bickel-Swenson, D (2007) End-of-life training in U.S. medical schools: A systematic literature review. Journal of Palliative Medicine 10(1), 229–235.Google Scholar
Billings, ME, Engelberg, R, Curtis, JR, et al. (2010) Determinants of medical students’ perceived preparation to perform end-of-life care, quality of end-of-life care education, and attitudes toward end-of-life care. Journal of Palliative Medicine 13(3), 319–326.Google Scholar
DeCoste-Lopez, J, Madhok, J and Harman, S (2015) Curricular innovations for medical students in palliative and end-of-life care: A systematic review and assessment of study quality. Journal of Palliative Medicine 18(4), 338–349.Google Scholar
Dickinson, GE (2002) A quarter century of end-of-life issues in US medical schools. Death Studies 26(8), 635–646.Google Scholar
Fineberg, I, Wenger, NS and Forrow, L (2004) Interdisciplinary education: Evaluation of a palliative care training intervention for pre-professionals. Academic Medicine 79(8), 769–776.Google Scholar
Forrest, LC (2000) Addressing issues of ethnicity and identity in palliative care through music therapy practice. Australian Journal of Music Therapy 11, 23–37.Google Scholar
Granek, L, Lazarev, I, Birenstock-Cohen, S, et al. (2015) Early exposure to a clinical oncology course during the preclinical second year of medical school. Academic Medicine 90(4), 454–457.Google Scholar
Greer, JA, Pirl, WF, Jackson, VA, et al. (2012) Effect of early palliative care on chemotherapy use and end-of-life care in patients with metastatic non-small-cell lung cancer. Journal of Clinical Oncology 30(4), 394–400.Google Scholar
Hanks, G, Cherny, NI, Christakis, NA, et al. (2010) Oxford textbook of palliative medicine, 4th ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Holley, JL, Carmody, SS, Moss, AH, et al. (2003) The need for end-of-life care training in nephrology: National survey results of nephrology fellows. American Journal of Kidney Diseases 42(4), 813–820.Google Scholar
Lorenz, KA, Lynn, J, Dy, SM, et al. (2008) Evidence for improving palliative care at the end of life: A systematic review. Annals of Internal Medicine 148(2), 147–159.Google Scholar
Mason, SR and Ellershaw, JE (2008) Preparing for palliative medicine; evaluation of an education programme for fourth year medical undergraduates. Palliative Medicine 22(6), 687–692.Google Scholar
Morrison, RS and Meier, DE (2004) Palliative care. The New England Journal of Medicine, 350, 2582–2590.Google Scholar
Morrison, RS, Maroney-Galin, C, Kralovec, PD, et al. (2005) The growth of palliative care programs in United States hospitals. Journal of Palliative Medicine 8(6), 1127–1134.Google Scholar
Temel, JS, Greer, JA, Muzikansky, A, et al. (2010) Early palliative care for patients with metastatic non-small-cell lung cancer. The New England Journal of Medicine 363(8), 733–742.Google Scholar
Temel, JS, Greer, JA, Admane, S, et al. (2011) Longitudinal perceptions of prognosis and goals of therapy in patients with metastatic non-small-cell lung cancer: Results of a randomized study of early palliative care. Journal of Clinical Oncology 29(17), 2319–2326.Google Scholar
Thiemann, P, Quince, T, Benson, J, et al. (2015) Medical students’ death anxiety: Severity and association with psychological health and attitudes toward palliative care. Journal of Pain and Symptom Management 50(3), 335–342.Google Scholar
Wiener, L, Shaw Weaver, M, Bell, CJ, et al. (2015) Threading the cloak: Palliative care education for care providers of adolescents and young adults with cancer. Clinical Oncology in Adolescents and Young Adults 5, 1–18.Google Scholar
Zimmermann, C, Swami, N, Krzyzanowska, M, et al. (2014) Early palliative care for patients with advanced cancer: A cluster-randomised controlled trial. Lancet 383(9930), 1721–1730.Google Scholar