Examining the Effect of Non-specialised Clinical Rotations Upon Medical Students' Thanatophobia and Self-efficacy in Palliative Care: a Prospective Observational Study in Two Medical Schools

Overview

Journal BMJ Open

Specialty General Medicine

Date 2020 Nov 19

PMID 33208334

Citations 1

Authors

Guilherme Gryschek

Dario Cecilio-Fernandes

Guilherme Antonio Moreira de Barros

Stephen Mason

Marco Antonio de Carvalho-Filho

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Introduction: Including palliative care (PC) in overloaded medical curricula is a challenge, especially where there is a lack of PC specialists. We hypothesised that non-specialised rotations could provide meaningful PC learning when there are enough clinical experiences, with adequate feedback.

Objective: Observe the effects of including PC topics in non-specialised placements for undergraduate medical students in two different medical schools.

Design: Observational prospective study.

Setting: Medical schools in Brazil.

Participants: 134 sixth-year medical students of two medical schools.

Methods: This was a longitudinal study that observed the development of Self-efficacy in Palliative Care (SEPC) and Thanatophobia (TS) in sixth-year medical students in different non-specialised clinical rotations in two Brazilian medical schools (MS1 and MS2). We enrolled 78 students in MS1 during the Emergency and Critical Care rotation and 56 students in MS2 during the rotation in Anaesthesiology. Both schools provide PC discussions with different learning environment and approaches.

Primary Outcomes: SEPC and TS Scales were used to assess students at the beginning and the end of the rotations.

Results: In both schools' students had an increase in SEPC and a decrease in TS scores.

Conclusion: Non-specialised rotations that consider PC competencies as core aspects of being a doctor can be effective to develop SEPC and decrease TS levels.

Citing Articles

Palliative and end of life care in undergraduate medical education: a survey of New Zealand medical schools.

Heath L, Egan R, Iosua E, Walker R, Ross J, Macleod R BMC Med Educ. 2022; 22(1):530.

PMID: 35804380 PMC: 9264288. DOI: 10.1186/s12909-022-03593-3.

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