An evaluation of an interprofessional palliative care education programme

Abstract

Reviews of literature relating to palliative care and interprofessional working identify the need to enhance the ‘palliative approach’ among generic health and social care staff. Greater collaboration is needed in order to deliver high quality services to individuals with palliative care needs and their families. This article describes an interprofessional palliative care education course designed around these two areas. The course was developed in response to some earlier work between a health-care trust and a local authority social services department that had highlighted areas for development in both understanding the broad remit of palliative care and collaborative working. The course outline and its evaluation are described, the description of the evaluation being from the perspectives of both the individuals leading the course and those participating in it. This led to several recommendations for future courses. Interprofessional education in palliative care represents a way forward with regard to improving the understanding of professional roles and collaboration in delivering quality services.