Improving Access to Palliative Care through Education and Training

The population is aging, especially in rural areas where people experience higher rates of mortality and chronic illness as well as greater distances to care, including specialty care. Since there is a lack of access to specialty palliative care, all clinicians must be trained to provide the fundamentals of palliative care to improve quality of life and limit suffering. Numerous options are available for clinicians to be trained in palliative care. A long-standing palliative care training option in South Dakota is the Interdisciplinary Palliative Care (IPC) Seminar which trains students from multiple disciplines in the foundation of palliative care. It has demonstrated significant student learning outcomes for 22 years. The IPC Seminar transitioned to virtual delivery in 2020 allowing additional students to participate across the state. It is currently hosted within the University of South Dakota Interprofessional Health Education Center which fostered additional disciplines to participate. As the need for palliative care grows in our state, so too, does the need for palliative care education whether it is acquired through national organizations or local education providers.