Publication:

Impact of teaching session on concepts of palliative care in medical undergraduates

Background The objective of this study is to evaluate the impact of teaching session on concepts of palliative care and pain management among medical undergraduate students in a tertiary care hospital.

Methods The study was conducted in tertiary care teaching hospital among undergraduates. 152 medical students were enrolled. Pre-session questionnaire was distributed to the students and the response was obtained. This was followed by an educational lecture with power point presentation for 45 minutes and post-lecture response to the questionnaire was perceived. With comments, a qualitative mathematic analysis was carried out.

Results With response of 90% the attitude of students regarding incurable terminal illness did not change due to educational training. Comparison of knowledge and attitude in precession and post session in 4th year undergraduates was higher (p value <0.001 & <0.0001) in comparison to 2nd year undergraduates (P value <0.0002 & < 0.0005). Post session mean assessment also showed slight increase for 4th year (45.6 & 87.4) when compared with 2nd year students (42.8 & 82.12).

Conclusions Concept of palliative care was poor among medical undergraduates. Health care providers can overcome by knowledge construction, interrelation between practice and evidence based medicine.