Evidence map›Paper›PMID 37814283›Full record

ArticleBMC palliative care2023

The state of undergraduate palliative care education at Austrian medical schools - a mixed methods study.

Véronique Toussaint, Piret Paal, Rainer Simader, Frank Elsner

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in BMC palliative care, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
2citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

2 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors.

Véronique ToussaintDepartment of Palliative Medicine, Medical Faculty RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany. veronique.toussaint@rwth-aachen.de.
Piret PaalInstitute of Palliative Care, Paracelsus Medical University, Salzburg, Austria.
Rainer SimaderHospiz Österreich / Österreichische Palliativgesellschaft, Vienna, Österreich.
Frank ElsnerDepartment of Palliative Medicine, Medical Faculty RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundThere is an increasing demand for universal, high-quality access to palliative care in Austria. To ensure this, the implementation of palliative care in the medical studies curriculum is essential. This is the first study to investigate the state of undergraduate palliative care education at Austrian medical schools.

methodsFor this mixed-methods study with concurrent embedded design, expert interviews and online surveys were conducted between March and August 2022. The interviews were subjected to a thematic analysis according to Braun and Clarke, while the questionnaires were analysed descriptively-statistically. For the final integration, the results of both methods for each topic are presented and discussed complementarily. Both the primary qualitative and supportive quantitative data were collected to combine the advantages of the in-depth nature of the qualitative data and the consistent structure of the quantitative data to provide a more precise representation of the state of teaching.

resultsTwenty-two persons participated in the study, of whom twenty-one participated in the interview and eight in the questionnaire. The participants were experts in palliative care teaching at Austrian medical schools. Currently, palliative care is taught at seven out of the eight universities. Large differences were found in the number of hours, organisation, teaching formats, and interprofessional education. At present, three universities have a chair for palliative care and at least five universities have access to a palliative care unit.

conclusionUndergraduate palliative care education in Austria is very heterogeneous and does not meet the minimum standards suggested by the European Association for Palliative Care (EAPC) curriculum recommendations. However, several universities are planning measures to expand palliative care teaching, such as the introduction of mandatory teaching or the establishment of new teaching formats. Better coordination and networking within and between universities would be beneficial for the expansion and quality of teaching.

Indexed as

Education, Medical, UndergraduatePalliative CareAustriaCurriculumHumansSchools, MedicalSurveys and QuestionnairesAustriaEuropeEuropean RegionMedical schoolPalliative carePalliative medicineTeachingUndergraduate educationUniversity

Identifiers

PMID37814283
PMCPMC10563205

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY
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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.