Effectiveness of educational program on systematic and extensive palliative care in cancer patients for pharmacists.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

Continuing education is essential for pharmacists to acquire latest knowledge. Our previously established educational program for pharmacists on the systematic and extensive palliative care of cancer patients was evaluated for its educational effectiveness in one urban prefecture. However, whether the same learning effect can be achieved when a program is expanded from one urban prefecture to multiple rural prefectures is unclear. In this study, we examined whether the continuing education program would be useful to pharmacists, even if the scale was expanded.

EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITY AND SETTING

With the aim of correcting educational disparities in the region, pharmacists living in nine prefectures in the Kyushu area underwent a systematic and extensive palliative care educational program for six days (with 24 topics in total). They were administered a questionnaire before and after each topic to evaluate their level of understanding.

FINDINGS

The level of understanding of the 24 topics in the program that palliative care pharmacists underwent, from "basic knowledge" to "clinical application," significantly improved (P < .01).

SUMMARY

The educational program for pharmacists is useful even when implemented on a larger scale. We believe that our efforts are important for improving community-based care.