Exploring palliative care clinical skills and practice capability among rural allied health professionals: a learning...

Palliative care improves quality of life for people with serious illness and their families by relieving suffering. In rural areas, access to specialist services is limited, with generalist clinicians often providing care. Allied health professionals in these settings may have varying levels of confidence and knowledge, which can affect care quality. Understanding their learning needs is essential to develop targeted education and improve service delivery.

This study aimed to identify the learning needs and education preferences of rural allied health clinicians in delivering specialist palliative and end-of-life care.

A cross-sectional online survey was distributed using convenience and snowball sampling to allied health professionals in two health services spanning four rural regions in Queensland, Australia. The survey collected demographic data and assessed self-reported confidence, knowledge, skills and preferred learning formats. Descriptive statistics were calculated to summarise survey responses and identify areas of knowledge gaps, consolidation and strength.

Thirty-one allied health professionals participated in the survey. The majority had over two years of experience and routinely provided palliative care within their generalist roles. Live, recorded online sessions were the preferred format for education, and all participants expressed interest in attending locally delivered in-person training. Knowledge gaps were identified in 94% of items across six domains-Clinical Practice, Psychosocial and Supportive Care, Quality of Life and Functional Activity Engagement, Palliative Symptom Management, End-of-Life Care, and Communication. Items pertaining to energy conservation and fatigue management and pressure area care and prevention were identified as areas for knowledge consolidation. Home environment assessment and equipment prescription were considered knowledge strengths. Most participants reported confidence in their understanding of allied health roles but variability was evident in regards to understanding the roles of other members of the health care team. Two-thirds of participants were receptive to information on self-care.

This study provides a baseline of learning needs and education preferences among rural allied health professionals from two health services across four rural regions of Queensland, Australia. These insights can guide the development of targeted training to strengthen palliative care delivery in rural communities.