One-year follow-up of an educational intervention for palliative care consultation teams

This study explored how an educational intervention affects interdisciplinary palliative care consultation teams.

A pre-post questionnaire survey conducted before the intervention, as well as immediately, 3, 6 and 12 months later. The outcome measurements were behavior (four domains-17 items) and confidence (one domain-6 items).

Of the 252 workshop participants (63 teams), 248 submitted a pre-intervention response, 240 responded immediately after, 198 after 3 months, 197 after 6 months and 184 after 12 months. The behavior domain score significantly increased from pre- to 12 months post-intervention, as follows: 'regional partnership and consultation availability from medical personnel in region', from 15.0 to 17.8 (P < 0.001, effect size = 0.59); 'direct practice or care by member', from 12.8 to 13.4 (P < 0.001, effect size = 0.26); 'provision of information to patient and family', from 11.4 to 12.5 (P < 0.001, effect size = 0.42). The confidence score for palliative care consultation teams activities significantly increased from 18.5 pre-intervention to 20.2 at 12 months later (P < 0.001, effect size = 0.37). By the analysis according to the profession of the team member, the score changes for physicians and psychiatrists were larger than that for nurses and pharmacists.

Participant behavior and confidence scores significantly increased after the educational intervention for the interdisciplinary team. In particular, physicians and psychiatrists showed the largest change. Future studies are needed to confirm the findings.