Let’s talk about it: Palliative care education in undergraduate medical curricula

There is a growing demand to include palliative care education in the undergraduate medical curricula. This dissertation is part of the Pasemeco project, a national project with the aim of improving education about palliative care within medical education, subsidized by ZonMW. Four studies have been carried out in order to develop education that is appropriate and in line with the perspectives and needs of the students. First, the students' learning needs were investigated using a questionnaire. Next, it was explored which competencies in palliative care are expected from newly graduated doctors by the professional field. Based on these two studies and educational design principles, a set of coherent set of learning tasks was developed. With these learning tasks, students learn to communicate with a palliative patient about the four dimensions of care, in particular the spiritual dimension. In the third and fourth study, one of these learning tasks was implemented and evaluated.