Effect of nationwide palliative care education program on lung cancer specialists.

Abstract

e21715 Background: Although palliative care has owed an essential part of cancer treatment, palliative care specialists are still insufficient. Thus in Japan, the Palliative care Emphasis program on symptom management and Assessment for Continuous Medical Education (PEACE) was launched in 2008 to provide primary palliative care education for all physicians engaged in cancer treatment. However, the effect of PEACE program on participants was uncertain. Methods: We conducted web-based surveys for physicians belonging to the Japan Lung Cancer Society and assessed outcomes of the PEACE program across three domains: knowledge, practices, and difficulties regarding palliative care by using the palliative care knowledge questionnaire for PEACE (PEACE-Q), Palliative Care self-reported Practice Scale (PCPS), and the Palliative Care Difficulties Scale (PCDS), respectively. All of these instruments were already validated in previous studies. Results: In February 2015, the survey was distributed to 5300 physicians and 923 of those surveyed including 455 respiratory physicians, 345 pulmonary surgeons, and 35 medical oncologist responded to all questionnaires. The result of PEACE-Q, PCPS, and PCDS (low score is better) were significantly superior in physicians who had participated in the PEACE program (n = 519) compared with non-participants (n = 404) (28.0 vs. 24.5, 71.8 vs. 67.1, and 34.4 vs. 36.9, respectively). The PEACE participants made significantly better scores than non-participants in all domains of PEACE-Q (philosophy of palliative care, cancer pain, side effects of opioids, dyspnea, nausea and vomiting, psychological distress, delirium, communication, and community-based palliative care) and PCPS (pain, dyspnea, delirium, dying-phase care, communication, and patient- and family-centered care), and 3 domains of PCDS (alleviation of symptoms, expert support, and communication with the patient and family). Conclusions: The PEACE program improved knowledge and practice of palliative care in lung cancer specialists in Japan.