[Educational needs of physicians and nurses working in palliative care].

Introduction: The WHO definitions of palliative care have been adopted in Denmark and implemented in the national guidelines. The aim of this study was to assess the educational needs of doctors and nurses in palliative care in a Danish county hospital and the related primary care sector.

Materials And Methods: A self-administered questionnaire was mailed to an anonymous cross-section of hospital nurses and doctors, home care nurses and GPs in the related primary care sector. The questions concerned the type of education obtained in the area and priorities for education in communication, supervision, pain and other typical symptoms in the terminally ill, as well as bereavement and grief therapy. The responses were compared by chi 2 statistics.

Results: 347 (76%) of those surveyed responded to the questionnaire. 81% of them were actually caring for a terminally ill or dying patient, and another 13% had done so within the past six months. The doctors, especially the hospital doctors, had generally received less education in the area surveyed than the nurses had and generally prioritized education lower than the nurses did; 44% of the respondents agreed completely or partially that they found it difficult to get up-to-date information on symptom control in palliative care.

Discussion: The findings indicate a profound need for education in palliative care. Doctors reported having received less education in this area than nurses had, and they also perceived a lower priority for education than nurses did. Particularly worrisome is the level of education of hospital doctors.