Palliative Care Training for Pediatric Hematology/Oncology Fellows: a Canadian Perspective

Title

Palliative Care Training for Pediatric Hematology/Oncology Fellows: a Canadian Perspective

Creator

Hasan F; Weingarten K; Cada M; Wilejto M

Publisher

Journal of Cancer Education

Date

2021

Subject

Palliative care; Pediatric; Education; Training; Oncology

Description

Children with cancer experience suffering, particularly at the end of life. Pediatric hematology/oncology (PHO) fellows need dedicated palliative care (PC) training in order to adequately manage this suffering. Our objectives were to understand (1) the PC training needs of Canadian PHO fellows and (2) experiences in providing PC, from the perspectives of fellows and their training program directors (PDs) and to describe (1) our experience in enhancing our institutional PC curriculum and (2) the preliminary evaluation of this curriculum. Electronic surveys were sent to all Canadian PHO fellows and PDs. Fellows participating in our curriculum were also sent post-course surveys. All 9/9 of the PDs and 63% (29/46) of the fellows completed our pre-course surveys. The majority of survey participants agreed that PHO fellows require dedicated PC training. All programs provided some PC education, but 45% of programs offered 3 or fewer hours of training per year. Only 55% (5/9) of the PDs believed that their trainees had adequate PC skills on completion of training. Fellows perceived a range of PC skills to be important but expressed low levels of comfort across these skills. Many fellows had experienced distress as a result of managing PC clinical situations, and many cited a lack of training as contributing to their distress. Despite increasing awareness of the importance of PC education for PHO fellows, this subject does not receive adequate attention in training curricula. The introduction of a Canadian national curriculum may improve the provision of PC training in education programs.

Rights

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Citation List Month

2021 Special Edition - Oncology

Citation

Hasan F; Weingarten K; Cada M; Wilejto M, “Palliative Care Training for Pediatric Hematology/Oncology Fellows: a Canadian Perspective,” Pediatric Palliative Care Library, accessed March 28, 2024, https://pedpalascnetlibrary.omeka.net/items/show/18957.