Palliative care training: A national survey of U.S. hematology/oncology fellows.

Abstract

28 Background: The American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) has recommended integration of palliative care into oncology practice at the time of diagnosis of advanced cancer. The attitudes, knowledge, and skills of Hematology/Oncology fellows in palliative medicine to implement this recommendation have not been assessed. Methods: In 2013 we surveyed current US Hematology/Oncology fellows to assess their attitudes and the quality of teaching in palliative care received during fellowship and their perceived preparedness to care for patients at End of Life (EOL). Trainees at all US programs were surveyed via Research Electronic Data Capture. The survey was IRB approved, anonymous and voluntary. Results: 176 surveys were collected. Statistical analysis was performed with t-test for numeric and Fisher’s exact test for categorical variables. 98% of respondents felt that providing care for dying patients was important. 99% indicated that physicians have a responsibility to help patients at EOL. Fellows felt their overall training in fellowship was superior to their quality of training (p<0.0001) or teaching (p <0.0001) on EOL. Pearson correlation showed that those with training in palliative care felt more prepared caring for patients at EOL (p <0.0001). Fellows who had training in palliative care during fellowship (45.4% of those surveyed) felt they had better teaching on managing a patient at EOL than those who did not (p<0.0001). There was no statistical significance noted with self-identified roles of spirituality or religion in attitudes, knowledge, or skills. 64% reported having conducted over ten family meetings regarding EOL. Only 18.9% were supervised (p<0.0001) and only 13.1% were given feedback more than ten times (p<0.0001). 89.7% of fellows surveyed stated they have disagreed with treatment without palliative care on at least one occasion. 40% of respondents did not know how to respond to a request to stop chemotherapy. Conclusions: Hematology/Oncology fellows believe that EOL care is important. Education about EOL is not at the same level of their overall fellowship training despite the recognition of the benefit of palliative care in Oncology. Educational initiatives need to be introduced to improve training on EOL care.