Pilot Study of an Interprofessional Palliative Care Curriculum: Course Content and Participant-Reported Learning...

Area of Science:

• Palliative Care Medicine
• Medical Education
• Healthcare Quality Improvement

Background:

• The National Consensus Project for Quality Palliative Care guidelines emphasize interprofessional team collaboration.
• A 9-month curriculum was developed focusing on communication, team practice, and systems integration for palliative care.
• The curriculum utilized diverse methods including webinars, online modules, workshops, and reflective practice.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate a novel interprofessional palliative care curriculum.
• To assess changes in self-reported clinical skills among participants.
• To gather feedback on curriculum content and delivery.

Main Methods:

• 24 interprofessional palliative care clinicians participated.
• A retrospective pre-post test design was used for skill assessment.
• Learning gains were calculated based on self-reported "strong" or "highly competent" skill levels.

Main Results:

• Participants reported an average learning gain of 50% across all domains.
• Significant gains were observed in communication (54%), team practice (52%), and systems integration (34%).
• The curriculum received high ratings, with participants noting improved emotional response skills, team collaboration, and understanding of outcome measurement.

Conclusions:

• The developed curriculum effectively enhanced perceived skills in advanced communication, interprofessional team practice, and metrics/systems integration.
• The findings support the curriculum's success in preparing palliative care clinicians for team-based, quality-focused practice.
• The program demonstrated positive impacts on clinical practice through skill development and enhanced collaboration.