Assessing medical students' training in end-of-life communication: a survey of interns at one urban teaching hospital.

Purpose: Although interns are responsible for caring for dying patients, little is known about end-of-life education and training, including communication skills, in U.S. medical schools.

Can a pain management and palliative care curriculum improve the opioid prescribing practices of medical residents?

Background: Although opioids are central to acute pain management, numerous studies have shown that many physicians prescribe them incorrectly, resulting in inadequate pain management and side effects. We assessed whether a case-based palliative medicine curriculum could improve medical house staff opioid prescribing practices.

Design: Prospective chart review of consecutive pharmacy and billing records of patients who received an opioid during hospitalization before and after the implementation of a curricular intervention, consisting of 10 one-hour case-based modules, including 2 pain management seminars.