Undergraduate palliative care education in the United Arab Emirates: a nationwide assessment of medical school deans

Thana Harhara,Halah Ibrahim

doi:10.1186/s12909-021-02966-4

Abstract

BackgroundThe provision of comprehensive, high quality palliative care (PC) is a global public health concern. In the United Arab Emirates (UAE), palliative medicine services are limited, and most patients in need of PC are treated in the acute hospital setting, where health professionals of all specialties provide treatment. Improving end-of-life care requires teaching medical students, residents, and other healthcare professionals about PC. The purpose of this study was to assess the current status of PC education in medical schools in the UAE, and to identify barriers to successful implementation of a PC and end-of-life curriculum.MethodsThe authors conducted semi-structured interviews with deans from all medical schools in the UAE. Data were analyzed using qualitative content analysis.ResultsAll medical school deans in our study recognized the importance of inculcating palliative and end-of-life care into the undergraduate curriculum, but there was substantial variability in implementation, with opportunities for improvement. Barriers to the successful implementation of an undergraduate PC curriculum include (1) lack of student awareness and interest in PC, (2) inconsistent clinical exposure to PC, (3) lack of specialized PC faculty, (4) limited clinical facilities for PC training, (5) lack of a multidisciplinary approach to PC education, and (6) cultural barriers to PC education.ConclusionsUnderstanding challenges to teaching PC in the undergraduate medical curriculum can help inform educational interventions to improve PC knowledge and skills for UAE medical students. Curricular and policy reform are necessary to educate a future generation of health professionals, who can provide high quality palliative care services to UAE patients and their families.

Highlights

The provision of comprehensive, high quality palliative care (PC) is a global public health concern
Harhara and Ibrahim BMC Med Educ (2021) 21:526 approaching integration into mainstream health service provision [2]. This is especially concerning as a recent World Health Organization (WHO) mortality projection predicts an increase in the burden of serious healthrelated suffering through 2060 in all WHO regions, with the highest proportional increases (170%) expected in the eastern Mediterranean region [3]
Understanding challenges to teaching PC in the undergraduate medical curriculum can help inform educational interventions to improve PC knowledge and skills for United Arab Emirates (UAE) medical students

Summary

Introduction

The provision of comprehensive, high quality palliative care (PC) is a global public health concern. In the United Arab Emirates (UAE), palliative medicine services are limited, and most patients in need of PC are treated in the acute hospital setting, where health professionals of all specialties provide treatment. As a consequence of the limited PC services, most patients in need of palliative medicine are treated in the acute hospital setting, where health professionals of all specialties and training levels provide care. Improving end-of-life (EOL) care requires providing PC services to patients and families, and on teaching medical students, residents, and other healthcare professionals about palliative medicine. There is limited published data for the UAE, cancer is the third leading cause of death in the country, and as most deaths occur in the hospital, it is likely that UAE physicians care for a large number of terminal patients [8]. Even in countries in which PC is mandated as part of the health education curriculum, multinational studies report inadequate education and training in EOL care, leaving a majority of medical graduates feeling poorly prepared for these tasks [9, 10]

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