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Evaluation of an Interdisciplinary Curriculum Teaching Team-Based Palliative Care Integration in Oncology

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An Erratum to this article was published on 06 January 2016

Abstract

For students of the health care professions to succeed in today’s health care environment, they must be prepared to collaborate with other professionals and practice on interdisciplinary teams. As most will care for patients with cancer, they must also understand the principles of palliative care and its integration into oncology. This article reports the success of one university’s effort to design and implement an interdisciplinary curriculum teaching team-based palliative care in oncology which was mandatory for medical, nursing, social work, and chaplaincy students. Quantitative evaluation indicated that students made significant improvements related to palliative care knowledge and skills and readiness for interprofessional education. Qualitative feedback revealed that students appreciated the experiential aspects of the curriculum most, especially the opportunity to observe palliative teams at work and practice team-based skills with other learners. While there exist many obstacles to interprofessional education and hands-on learning, the value of such experiences to the learners justifies efforts to initiate and continue similar programs in the health sciences.

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Acknowledgments

This work was funded in part by a grant from the National Cancer Institute (1R25CA148005).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of General Internal Medicine, Medical Education and Palliative Medicine, University of Louisville School of Medicine, Louisville, KY, 40292, USA

    Barbara A. Head, Tara Schapmire, Lori Earnshaw, Carol Jones, Amy Martin, Monica Ann Shaw & Mark Pfeiffer

  2. University of Louisville Kent School of Social Work, Louisville, KY, 40292, USA

    Anna Faul

  3. University of the Free State, Bloemfontain, South Africa

    Anna Faul

  4. University of Louisville School of Nursing, Louisville, KY, 40292, USA

    Carla Hermann

  5. University Hospital, Louisville, KY, 40202, USA

    Frank Woggon

  6. Office of Undergraduate Medical Education, University of Louisville School of Medicine, Louisville, KY, 40292, USA

    Craig Ziegler

  7. MedCenter One, Suite 330B 501 East Broadway, Louisville, KY, 40202, USA

    Barbara A. Head

Authors
  1. Barbara A. Head
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  2. Tara Schapmire
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  3. Lori Earnshaw
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  4. Anna Faul
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  5. Carla Hermann
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  6. Carol Jones
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  7. Amy Martin
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  8. Monica Ann Shaw
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  9. Frank Woggon
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  10. Craig Ziegler
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  11. Mark Pfeiffer
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Correspondence to Barbara A. Head.

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Head, B.A., Schapmire, T., Earnshaw, L. et al. Evaluation of an Interdisciplinary Curriculum Teaching Team-Based Palliative Care Integration in Oncology. J Canc Educ 31, 358–365 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13187-015-0799-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13187-015-0799-y

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