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Raising the bar for the care of seriously ill patients: results of a national survey to define essential palliative care competencies for medical students and residents.

ABSTRACT: Given the shortage of palliative care specialists in the United States, to ensure quality of care for patients with serious, life-threatening illness, generalist-level palliative care competencies need to be defined and taught. The purpose of this study was to define essential competencies for medical students and internal medicine and family medicine (IM/FM) residents through a national survey of palliative care experts.Proposed competencies were derived from existing hospice and palliative medicine fellowship competencies and revised to be developmentally appropriate for students and residents. In spring 2012, the authors administered a Web-based, national cross-sectional survey of palliative care educational experts to assess ratings and rankings of proposed competencies and competency domains.The authors identified 18 comprehensive palliative care competencies for medical students and IM/FM residents, respectively. Over 95% of survey respondents judged the competencies as comprehensive and developmentally appropriate (survey response rate = 72%, 71/98). Using predefined cutoff criteria, experts identified 7 medical student and 13 IM/FM resident competencies as essential. Communication and pain/symptom management were rated as the most critical domains.This national survey of palliative care experts defines comprehensive and essential palliative care competencies for medical students and IM/FM residents that are specific, measurable, and can be used to report educational outcomes; provide a sequence for palliative care curricula in undergraduate and graduate medical education; and highlight the importance of educating medical trainees in communication and pain management. Next steps include seeking input and endorsement from stakeholders in the broader medical education community.

SUBMITTER: Schaefer KG

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4077186 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Raising the bar for the care of seriously ill patients: results of a national survey to define essential palliative care competencies for medical students and residents.

Schaefer Kristen G KG Chittenden Eva H EH Sullivan Amy M AM Periyakoil Vyjeyanth S VS Morrison Laura J LJ Carey Elise C EC Sanchez-Reilly Sandra S Block Susan D SD

Academic medicine : journal of the Association of American Medical Colleges 20140701 7

<h4>Purpose</h4>Given the shortage of palliative care specialists in the United States, to ensure quality of care for patients with serious, life-threatening illness, generalist-level palliative care competencies need to be defined and taught. The purpose of this study was to define essential competencies for medical students and internal medicine and family medicine (IM/FM) residents through a national survey of palliative care experts.<h4>Method</h4>Proposed competencies were derived from exis ...[more]

PMID: 24979171

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Project description:ObjectivesTo examine the association between the quality of care delivered to nursing home residents with and without a serious mental illness (SMI) and the proportion of nursing home residents with SMI.DesignInstrumental variable study. Relative distance to the nearest nursing home with a high proportion of SMI residents was used to account for potential selection of patients between high- and low-SMI facilities. Data were obtained from the 2006-2010 Minimum Data Set assessments linked with Medicare claims and nursing home information from the Online Survey, Certification, and Reporting database.SettingNursing homes with high (defined as at least 10% of a facility's population having an SMI diagnosis) and low proportions of SMI residents.ParticipantsA total of 58 571 Medicare nursing residents with an SMI diagnosis (ie, schizophrenia or bipolar disorder) and 558 699 individuals without an SMI diagnosis who were admitted to the same nursing homes.MeasurementsOutcomes were nursing home quality measures: (1) use of physical restraints, (2) any hospitalization in the last 3 months, (3) use of an indwelling catheter, (4) use of a feeding tube, and (5) presence of pressure ulcer(s).ResultsFor individuals with SMI, admission to a high-SMI facility was associated with a 3.7 percentage point (95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.4-6.0) increase in the probability of feeding tube use relative to individuals admitted to a low-SMI facility. Among individuals without SMI, admission to a high-SMI facility was associated with a 1.7 percentage point increase in the probability of catheter use (95 CI = .03-3.47), a 3.8 percentage point increase in the probability of being hospitalized (95% CI = 2.16-5.44), and a 2.1 percentage point increase in the probability of having a feeding tube (95% CI = .43-3.74).ConclusionAdmission to nursing homes with high concentrations of residents with SMI is associated with worse outcomes for both residents with and without SMI. J Am Geriatr Soc 67:2346-2352, 2019.

Project description:BackgroundDespite the perceived ethical, personal and health service benefits of advance care planning (ACP), the extent to which older and seriously ill Australian inpatients have considered future health decisions remains uncertain. This study aimed to determine in a sample of older and seriously ill inpatients, the proportion who had: 1) engaged in four advance care planning (ACP) activities; 2) not engaged in ACP activities but wanted to; and 3) reasons why they had not engaged.MethodsCross-sectional face-to-face standardised interview survey with inpatients in a tertiary referral centre who were either: aged 80+ years; aged 55+ years with progressive chronic disease(s); or judged by treating clinicians as having a life expectancy of less than 12 months. Patients indicated whether they had engaged in four ACP activities: (1) appointed medical substitute-decision-maker(s), (2) recorded end-of-life wishes in an advance directive or care plan; and talked about their end-of-life wishes with their: (3) support persons and/or (4) doctors. Patients who had not engaged in activities were asked whether they wished this to occur and reasons why.ResultsOne hundred eighty-six inpatients consented to the study (80% of approached). Of these, 9% (n = 16) had engaged in four ACP activities; 27% (n = 50) had not engaged in any. Half (n = 94, 52%) had appointed a medical substitute-decision-maker, 27% (n = 50) had recorded wishes in an advance directive or care plan, 51% (n = 90) had talked about their end-of-life wishes with support persons and 27% (n = 48) had talked with their doctor. Patients who wanted to, but had not, engaged in the four ACP activities were unaware they could record wishes or appoint decision-makers, or indicated providers had not initiated conversations.ConclusionRelatively few inpatients had engaged in all four ACP activities. More inpatients had discussed end of life issues with family and appointed substitute decision makers, than completed written documents or talked with doctors. Community education and a more active role for community and hospital-based providers in supporting patients and families to collaboratively resolve end-of-life decisions may increase the probability wishes are known and followed.

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Project description:BackgroundGeneralists such as general practitioners and district nurses have been the main actors in community palliative care in Norway. Specialised oncology nurses with postgraduate palliative training are increasingly becoming involved. There is little research on their contribution. This study explores how general practitioners (GPs) and oncology nurses (ONs) experience their collaboration in primary palliative care.MethodsA qualitative focus group and interview study in rural Northern Norway, involving 52 health professionals. Five uni-professional focus group discussions were followed by five interprofessional discussions and six individual interviews. Transcripts were analysed thematically.ResultsThe ideal cooperation between GPs and ONs was as a "meeting of experts" with complementary competencies. GPs drew on their generalist backgrounds, including their often long-term relationship with and knowledge of the patient. The ONs contributed longitudinal clinical observations and used their specialised knowledge to make treatment suggestions. While ONs were often experienced and many had developed a form of pattern recognition, they needed GPs' competencies for complex clinical judgements. However, ONs sometimes lacked timely advice from GPs, and could feel left alone with sick patients. To avoid this, some ONs bypassed GPs and contacted palliative specialists directly. While traditional professional hierarchies were not a barrier, we found that organization, funding and remuneration were significant barriers to cooperation. GPs often did not have time to meet with ONs to discuss shared patients. We also found that ONs and GPs had different strategies for learning. While ONs belonged to a networking nursing collective aiming for continuous quality improvement, GPs learned mostly from their individual experience of caring for patients.ConclusionsThe complementary competences and autonomous roles of a specialised nurse and a general practitioner represented a good match for primary palliative care. When planning high-quality teamwork in primary care, organizational barriers to cooperation and different cultures for learning need consideration.

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Raising the bar for the care of seriously ill patients: results of a national survey to define essential palliative care competencies for medical students and residents.

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Raising the bar for the care of seriously ill patients: results of a national survey to define essential palliative care competencies for medical students and residents.

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