Abstract
Context
Primary palliative care training is important for clinicians at Historically Black
Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) given the decreased access to specialty palliative
care among Black patients and patients’ preferences for race concordant care.
Objectives
To describe the impact of a palliative care educational intervention at two HBCUs.
Methods
We administered a palliative care educational intervention in family and internal
medicine residency programs at Morehouse School of Medicine and Howard University
College of Medicine. Pre- and post-intervention surveys were sent to residents assessing
attitudes toward their palliative care education and their perceived competency in
specific palliative care domains. The results were analyzed using Chi-squared analysis.
Results
A total of 105 of 191 (response rate 55%) residents completed pre-intervention surveys
and 101 of 240 (42%) completed post-intervention surveys. Prior to the intervention,
50% of residents rated their overall preparedness in palliative care as a 7 or above
(0–10 Likert scale); 78% (P < .01) of respondents reported ≥7/10 after the educational intervention. While post-intervention
residents did not feel better prepared to treat symptoms, a higher percentage reported
feeling well prepared to deliver bad news (41% post-intervention vs. 23% pre-intervention)
and conduct a family meeting (44% post-intervention vs. 27% pre-intervention) (P < .05). Pre-intervention, 14% of residents felt their overall palliative care education
was very good or excellent, while post-intervention ratings increased to 30% (P < .01).
Conclusion
Residents’ confidence in their preparedness to provide palliative care, particularly
in their communication skills increased after an intervention at two HBCUs.
Key Words
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: January 19, 2023
Accepted:
January 6,
2023
Publication stage
In Press Journal Pre-ProofFootnotes
L.B.A and R.M.A. are senior authors.
Identification
Copyright
© 2023 American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
