Palliative medicine Master Classes for primary care: an evaluation
Amanda Landers
1 * , Raewyn Jenkins 2 , Persijn J. Honkoop 3
1 Department of Medicine, University of Otago, 2 Riccarton Avenue, Christchurch 8140, New Zealand.
2 Nurse Maude Hospice Palliative Care Service, Merivale, Christchurch, New Zealand.
3 Southlink Health Services, Rangiora Family Doctors, Rangiora, New Zealand.
Journal of Primary Health Care 14(3) 207-213 https://doi.org/10.1071/HC22045
Published: 11 July 2022
© 2022 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing on behalf of The Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND)
Abstract
Introduction: General practitioners (GP) are key in the delivery of primary palliative care in the community, so appropriate knowledge and skills are needed. Previous research has suggested there may be gaps in training opportunities.
Aims: To develop and evaluate a Master Class series presented by a hospice palliative care service to their local GPs and other health-care professionals. A secondary aim was to measure the lasting impacts of the educational intervention.
Methods: The study setting was the Canterbury region of Aotearoa New Zealand (NZ). GPs and other health-care professionals were surveyed using a research team-designed questionnaire rating self confidence in the nominated learning objectives before and after the Master Classes. The participants were also asked to self-rate the application of the knowledge to their practice 3 years after the Master Class sessions were attended.
Results: There were 56 sets of questionnaires completed. The participants tended to be experienced female GPs with a range of palliative care patients in their practice. There was significant improvement in most learning outcomes across the Master Classes series. The attendees reported the Master Classes were relevant and clear, with useful resources. The improvements in the learning outcomes were largely sustained over 3 years.
Discussion: The provision of palliative care education that aligns with clinical practice improves knowledge, skills and confidence in GPs who provide most of the end-of-life care in New Zealand.
Keywords: co‐design, competencies, education, educational evaluation, Kirkpatrick levels of learning, Master Classes, palliative care, primary care.
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