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Published in: BMC Primary Care 1/2014

Open Access 01-12-2014 | Research article

Health care professionals’ perceptions towards lifelong learning in palliative care for general practitioners: a focus group study

Authors: Peter Pype, Linda Symons, Johan Wens, Bart Van den Eynden, Ann Stes, Myriam Deveugele

Published in: BMC Primary Care | Issue 1/2014

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Abstract

Background

There is a growing need for palliative care. The majority of palliative patients prefer their general practitioner (GP) to organize their palliative home care. General practitioners need a range of competences to perform this task. However, there has been no general description so far of how GPs keep these competences up-to-date. The present study explores current experiences, views and preferences towards training and education in palliative care among GPs, palliative home-care professionals and professionals from organizations who provide training and education.

Methods

Five focus groups were brought together in Belgium, with a total of 29 participants, including members of the three categories mentioned above. They were analysed using a constant comparison method.

Results

The analysis revealed that undergraduate education and continuing medical education (CME) while in practice, is insufficient to prepare GPs for their palliative work. Workplace learning (WPL) through collaboration with specialized palliative home-care nurses seems to be a valuable alternative.

Conclusions

The effectiveness of undergraduate education might be enhanced by adding practical experience. Providers of continuing medical education should look to organize interactive, practice-based and interprofessional sessions. Therefore, teachers need to be trained to run small group discussions. In order to optimize workplace learning, health care professionals should be trained to monitor each other’s practice and to provide effective feedback. Further research is needed to clarify which aspects of interprofessional teamwork (e.g. professional hierarchy, agreements on tasks and responsibilities) influence the effectiveness of workplace learning.
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Metadata
Title
Health care professionals’ perceptions towards lifelong learning in palliative care for general practitioners: a focus group study
Authors
Peter Pype
Linda Symons
Johan Wens
Bart Van den Eynden
Ann Stes
Myriam Deveugele
Publication date
01-12-2014
Publisher
BioMed Central
Published in
BMC Primary Care / Issue 1/2014
Electronic ISSN: 2731-4553
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2296-15-36

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