Abstract
Background:
Physical medicine and rehabilitation (PM&R) clinicians commonly care for patients with serious illness/injury and would benefit from primary palliative care (PC) training.
Objective:
To assess current practices, attitudes, and barriers toward PC education among U.S. PM&R residencies.
Design:
This is a cross-sectional study utilizing an electronic 23-question survey.
Setting/Subjects:
Subjects were program leaders from U.S. PM&R residency programs.
Results:
Twenty-one programs responded (23% response). Only 14 (67%) offered PC education through lectures, elective rotations, or self-directed reading. Pain management, communication, and nonpain symptom management were identified as the most important PC domains for residents. Nineteen respondents (91%) felt residents would benefit from more PC education, but only five (24%) reported undergoing curricular change. Lack of faculty availability/expertise and teaching time were the most endorsed barriers.
Conclusion:
PC education is heterogeneous across PM&R programs despite its perceived value. PC and PM&R educators can collaborate to build faculty expertise and integrate PC principles into existing curricula.
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