Department of Medicine, Division of Palliative Care, University of Ottawa, 451 Smyth Rd, Ottawa, ON, K1H 8M5, Canada.
Department of Palliative Care, Bruyère Continuing Care, Saint-Vincent Hospital, 60 Cambridge St N, Ottawa, ON, K1R 7A5, Canada.
BMC Med Educ. 2024 Feb 1;24(1):105. doi: 10.1186/s12909-024-05082-1.
The teaching of palliative care competencies is an essential component of undergraduate medical education. There is significant variance in the palliative care content delivered in undergraduate medical curricula, revealing the utility of reference standards to guide curricular development and assessment. To evaluate our university's undergraduate palliative care teaching, we undertook a curriculum mapping exercise, comparing official learning objectives to the national Educating Future Physicians in Palliative and End-of-Life Care (EFPPEC) and the international Palliative Education Assessment Tool (PEAT) reference objectives.
Multiple assessors independently compared our university's UGME learning objectives with EFPPEC and PEAT reference objectives to determine the degree-of-coverage. Visual curriculum maps were created to depict in which part of the curriculum each objective is delivered and by which medical specialty.
Of 122 EFPPEC objectives, 55 (45.1%) were covered fully, 42 (34.4%) were covered partially, and 25 (20.5%) were not covered by university objectives. Of 89 PEAT objectives, 40 (44.9%) were covered fully, 35 (39.3%) were covered partially, and 14 (15.7%) were not covered by university objectives.
The majority of EFPPEC and PEAT reference objectives are fully or partially covered in our university's undergraduate medical curriculum. Our approach could serve as a guide for others who endeavour to review their universities' specialty-specific medical education against reference objectives. Future curriculum development should target the elimination of identified gaps and evaluate the attainment of palliative care competencies by medical learners.
姑息治疗能力的教学是本科医学教育的重要组成部分。本科医学课程中的姑息治疗内容存在显著差异，这表明参考标准对于指导课程开发和评估具有重要意义。为了评估我们大学的本科姑息治疗教学，我们进行了课程映射练习，将官方学习目标与国家“未来医生姑息治疗和临终关怀教育”（EFPPEC）和国际姑息治疗教育评估工具（PEAT）的参考目标进行比较。
多名评估员独立将我们大学的 UGME 学习目标与 EFPPEC 和 PEAT 参考目标进行比较，以确定涵盖程度。创建了直观的课程图，以说明每个目标在课程的哪个部分以及由哪个医学专业教授。
在 122 个 EFPPEC 目标中，有 55 个（45.1%）得到了充分覆盖，42 个（34.4%）得到了部分覆盖，25 个（20.5%）没有被大学目标涵盖。在 89 个 PEAT 目标中，有 40 个（44.9%）得到了充分覆盖，35 个（39.3%）得到了部分覆盖，14 个（15.7%）没有被大学目标涵盖。
EFPPEC 和 PEAT 参考目标的大部分在我们大学的本科医学课程中得到了充分或部分覆盖。我们的方法可以为其他努力根据参考目标审查其大学特定医学教育的人提供指导。未来的课程发展应针对消除已确定的差距，并评估医学生获得姑息治疗能力的情况。
