Survey of Palliative Care Concepts among Medical Students and Interns in Austria: A Comparison of the Old and the New curriculum of the Medical University of Vienna

Abstract

Background:To improve the level of awareness in palliative care concepts, the new curriculum at the University of Vienna includes sixteen hours of palliative care education.The old curriculum did not include palliative care education. Aim:To compare the level of awareness in palliative care concepts among 4th year students of the new curriculum of the Medical University of Vienna with interns who fi nished their studies in the old curriculum. Materials and methods: 440 medical students in their 4th year and 149 interns participated in a survey study. Data were collected after the survey and the responses were analyzed.Results: Data analysis consists of completed survey obtained from 83% and 67% of the students and interns. We observed that students reported higher theoretical knowledge of palliative care concepts as compared to interns, whereas interns were better in performing practical aspects of palliative care. A signifi cant percentage of students and interns would like to learn more about palliative care in their curriculum, although this was more present among interns (72.7% students and 92.6% interns, p Ͻ 0.0001, respectively). Conclusion:Although palliative care education is already included in a compulsory manner in the new curriculum of the Medical University of Vienna, almost two third of all students would support more implementation of palliative care issues throughout the curriculum. To further improve attitudes and skills towards patients at end of life, palliative care education should be augmented in the new curriculum.

Conceptual prevalence in palliative care amongst the physicians of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University: a comparison between the post-graduate trainees and the trainers

“…The findings need to be judged also in the context of arrogance -ignorance paradox 10 . Our findings of the survey are interestingly similar to a few other surveys done in the some other developing as well as developed countries 11,12,13 . A similar percentage to our finding of interns (82%) and students (86%) reported to be familiar with the concept of Palliative Care in a recent survey in India 7,11 .…”

“…This study investigated Palliative Care concepts among medical interns and students in India who had no mandatory Palliative Care curriculum. Another similar study show that students (97.9%) and interns (81.2%) reported familiarity with the concept of Palliative Care in a study in Vienna 12 . Results of a recent survey of resident physicians in post -graduate training programs in Chile shows that approximately 50% respondents perceived that their level of palliative care education was adequate.…”

Assessment of knowledge in palliative care of physical therapists students at a university hospital in Brazil

“…Nevertheless, in a study of the Medical University of Vienna in Austria the results were more satisfactory, 97.9% of students and 81.2% of healthcare professionals, reported familiarity with the concept of palliative care. 13 Also, a Chinese study showed that 77% of healthcare professionals reported familiarity with the concept. 14 …”

“…Likewise, in China, only 13%, and in Austria, 17.6%, of medical students reported yes when questioned whether medical students felt adequately trained to deal with symptoms of death. 13 , 14 …”

An Opportunity Missed is an Opportunity Lost

“…Some of them might be related to methodology, data gathered or its interpretation etc., in studies published. 2,3 PCRT offers all of us the opportunity to leave comments related to any paper that is published. As interested as I am to read the papers, I am also very interested to read the information shared in the comments section.…”