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 Historically
Black Colleges and Universities (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-square analysis.
Results
A total of 105 out of 191 (response rate 55%) residents completed pre-intervention
surveys and 101 out 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<0.01) 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<0.05). Pre-intervention,
14% of residents felt their overall palliative care education was very good or excellent,
while post-intervention ratings increased to 30% (p<0.01).
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
Accepted:
January 6,
2023
Publication stage
In Press Journal Pre-ProofFootnotes
Editorial Comment: Amy A. Case, MD, FAAHPM. Associate Editor.
This is an interesting and important topic to improve primary palliative care at HBCUs.
Funding: This work has been supported by an Arthur Vining Davis Foundations grant; Dr. Schenker was supported by an NIH grant, K24AG070285.
Identification
Copyright
© 2023 Published by Elsevier Inc. on behalf of American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine.
