Attitude and education needs of emergency doctors in providing palliative and end-of-life care in Hong Kong: A prospective cross-sectional analysis based on self-reported surveys

Abstract

Background: With the aging population in Hong Kong, the importance and need of palliative care and end-of-life (EOL) care are brought into the spotlight. The Accident and Emergency Department (AED) is often the first medical contact for the public. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the attitude of emergency doctors in providing palliative and EOL cares in Hong Kong, and to investigate the education needs for emergency doctors in these areas.Methods: A questionnaire study was conducted involving emergency doctors from 6 AEDs in Hong Kong. The questionnaires covered the attitudes of emergency doctors towards the palliative and EOL cares in terms of the role of palliative and EOL care in AED, the specific obstacles in providing such cares, their comfort level with the cares and further education needs The attitudes of emergency doctors from the AEDs with EOL care service were compared with those from the AEDs without such services. Results: One hundred and forty-five emergency doctors completed the questionnaires, in which 60 respondents from the AEDs with EOL care service. Significant proportions from both groups recognized that palliative and EOL cares were an important competence for them, but its role and priority in emergency care were uncertain. Lack of time and access to palliative care specialists/ teams were the major barriers. Participants from AEDs with EOL care service were more comfortable to provide the care and discuss it with patients and relatives. Further education needs identified including management of physical complaints, communication skills and EOL care ethics.Conclusions: The study identified obstacles in promoting palliative and EOL cares in the AEDs in Hong Kong. Education on the communication skills and ethical issues were necessary as well. With the combination of elements of routine AED practice and the basic palliative medicine skill set, it would promote the development of this emerging field in Emergency Medicine in the future.

Attitudes and educational needs of emergency doctors providing palliative and end-of-life care in Hong Kong: a cross-sectional analysis based on a self-report study

“…The datasets generated and analysed during the current study are available in the Mendeley Data repository [29], https://doi.org/10.17632/xdcrdjs48f.…”