Background: Health and social care professionals have described their lack of competence and confidence in aspects of palliative care recognizing a need for increased knowledge. This has led to the development of courses, many of which have been uni-disciplinary. The adoption of multi-professional courses has been suggested to facilitate greater understanding and collaboration. Few courses have been evaluated.
Objective: To evaluate an innovative multi-professional MSc in Palliative Care.
Design: Postal survey questionnaire of MSc students.
Participants: 48 former students who attended a multi-professional MSc in Palliative Care in the UK from January 1998 - 2002.
Results: Of the 48 former students 37 (77%) participated in the survey. Professions included doctors, nurses, and occupational therapists. This concealed inter-disciplinary variations, work settings, countries and cultures. 87% of students surveyed stated the MSc had helped them progress within their professions. Many stated they were involved in activities including research, systematic reviews, evidenced-based practice, quality assurance, service evaluation, clinical audit, policy development and education. 36 students shared views on the benefits of multi-professional education. Emerging themes from open-ended questions included: similarities and differences in roles, skills, knowledge and respective ideologies; greater recognition of complementary skills and resources; appreciation of parity of contribution in the care of patients and families; and greater opportunity of open communication, alleviating future hesitancy.
Conclusion: Multi-professional palliative care education is an effective method of developing students’ skills and understanding of evidenced-based care and enhances greater professional understanding.