Development of the standard hospice and palliative care education program in Korea: results from the demonstration...

To describe development of the Standard Hospice & Palliative Care Education Program in Korea, a basic training program for hospice & palliative care professionals, and to report preliminary results from the 2008-2009 demonstration project at 2 sites that support its effectiveness.

We developed the Standard Hospice & Palliative Care Education Program, consisting of 19 modules, under the initiative and financial support of the Ministry of Health, Welfare, and Family Affairs. We adapted the train-the-trainer model and benchmarked the EPEC (Education in Palliative and End-of-life Care) course. In order to evaluate the effectiveness of the program, session evaluation, pre-post test of knowledge, and overall course evaluation were assessed by participants.

The demonstration program included a total of 105 participants. Overall rating by participants was 4.1 for relevance and usefulness of program contents (range, 4.1-4.2; 1 = strongly disagree, 5 = strongly agree) and 4.1 for the trainer's teaching skills (range, 4.0-4.2). Participants demonstrated significant improvement in their knowledge on the pre-post test for 6 of the 17 modules, and reported that they had gained confidence in their ability to perform palliative care practices (overall mean ratings, 4.0, range; 3.6-4.3; 1 = very low, 5 = very high). Overall evaluation of the program was very high (very satisfied or satisfied; 86%).

Development of the Standard Hospice & Palliative Care Education Program was successful, and its preliminary effectiveness was shown by the demonstration program. Comments on our experience in Korea would be helpful to efforts in other countries, particularly those with limited resources for hospice and palliative care.