Hospice educators' perspectives on e-learning in palliative care education in Ireland

Knowledge of and understanding the palliative care approach should be a core competency in all healthcare settings. E-learning offers the potential to deliver palliative care education and meet this challenge.

To examine hospice educator's perspectives of e-learning in palliative care education.

Semi-structured interviews were conducted with a purposeful sample of hospice educators on the island of Ireland (Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland). These were transcribed and the data was analysed thematically.

Many factors were considered when using e-learning: objectives of the programme, learner's characteristics, topic suitability (as palliative care is very emotive) and organisational factors. Barriers to using e-learnning were the preparation time required and developing expertise in e-learning. Support mechanisms for hospice educators to share knowledge would be beneficial.

Educators were keen to adopt a blended approach in their teaching. While acknowledging the challenges and limitations of e-learning, educators felt that e-learning has a positive role in palliative care education.