Awareness and Attitude Change after End-of-Life Care Education for Medical Students

Abstract

Purposes: Most medical schools in Korea do not provide adequate education in end-of-life care. This study was designed to illustrate the need to improve end-of-life care edu cation and to assess the effect of the education on fourth-year medical students’ awareness and attitude towards hospice and palliative care for terminally ill patients. Methods: One hundred sixty six fourth-year medical students were surveyed with questionnaires on end-of-life care before and after they received the education. Results: Before receiving the education, students most frequently answered “ at the end of life” (33.6%) was appropriate time to write an advance medical directive. After the education, the most frequent answer was “ in healthy status” (58.7%). More students agreed to withholding or withdrawing futile life-sustaining treatment increased after the education (48.1% vs. 92.5% (P＜0.001) for cardiopulmonary resuscitation, 38.3% vs. 92.5% (P＜0.001) for intubation and mechanical ventilation, 39.1% vs. 85.8% (P＜ 0.001) for inotropics, 60.9% vs. 94.8% (P＜ 0.001) for dialysis and 27.8% vs. 56.0% (P＜0.001) for total parenteral nutrition). Significantly more students opposed euthanasia after the education (46.6% vs. 82.1%, P＜0.001). All students agreed to the need for education in end-of-life care. Conclusion: After reflecting on the meaning of death through the end-of-life care education, most s tudents recognized the need for the education. The education brought remarkable changes in students’ awareness and attitude towards patients at the end of life. We suggest end-of-life care education should be included in the regular curriculum of all medical schools in Korea. (Korean J Hosp Palliat Care 2012;15:30-35)