E07 - Pre-graduate internship in the medical oncology department: a good training setting to capture aspects of palliative and simultaneous care

Abstract

Background: Palliative care, from early stages to end-of-life, represent a growing area of clinical activity and provide both specialized aspects and others that should be of relevance of each doctor. Communicative peculiarities, the doctor's relationship with patients and their families, the team's work in the specifications of each health professional, the management of the oncological disease path from diagnosis, to treatment, symptom management, to end-of-life, are skills that every doctor having to use. However, within the pre-graduate training education in this sense fits in very different ways, mostly entrusted to the sensitivity of various teachers from oncology or other related disciplines. Methods: We proposed to all final year students of the degree course in Medicine and Surgery at the University of Siena a specific in training in department of Medical Oncology during which the educational end-point was the palliative approach to care. The training course was divided into four steps: 1) clinical step, the analysis of the relationship between the doctor and the patient, care and symptoms management, assessment of the different roles of each health professional; 2) think out step, comparative phase driven on the experience, even with respect to training in other departments; 3) narrative step, the witness on the part of professionals; 4) synthesis step, explanatory and final comments. After six months, through an oral questionnaire, take-home concept were checked. Results: From October to December 2015 140 students were included in training from the sixth year of medicine and surgery course (92% of subscribers). Graduation within a year was predicted for 72 (51%) of these. After six months, 68% of the students recognized the uniqueness of palliative approach, 79% have recognized the importance in oncology profession, 85% the importance in medical education undergraduate. 40% considered it useful also palliative and simultaneous care curricular lessons and 20% considered it necessary. Conclusions: Medical education is required to find the best ways to transmit to medical students skills finalized to patient care projected to the end-of-life and symptoms control in chronic and incurable diseases. A good training setting seems to be the Medical Oncology Department if the training period in this sense is led by trained personnel.