Mid-Career Training to Advance Palliative Care

Area of Science:

• Palliative Medicine
• Healthcare Workforce Development
• Medical Education Innovation

Background:

• The supply of specialist palliative medicine physicians and advanced practice providers is insufficient to meet current and projected demand.
• Traditional training pathways are inadequate for addressing the growing need for palliative care professionals.
• Midcareer professionals represent a potential pool for palliative care, but face significant barriers to entry.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore innovative approaches for training palliative care professionals.
• To identify barriers and facilitators for midcareer professionals transitioning into palliative care.
• To outline current research findings and suggest future research directions in palliative care workforce development.

Main Methods:

• Expert roundtable discussion synthesizing current research on palliative care training.
• Analysis of barriers such as opportunity cost for midcareer professionals.
• Identification of knowledge gaps and areas for future research.

Main Results:

• Current training models are insufficient to meet the escalating demand for palliative care specialists.
• Midcareer professionals present a viable, yet underutilized, resource for expanding the palliative care workforce.
• Significant barriers, including financial and professional opportunity costs, impede midcareer transitions into palliative care.

Conclusions:

• Innovative training models are essential to address the palliative care workforce shortage.
• Further research is needed to develop effective strategies for recruiting and training midcareer professionals in palliative care.
• Addressing the opportunity cost and other barriers is critical for successful workforce expansion in palliative medicine.