PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Ramona Mahtani
AU  - Allison M. Kurahashi
AU  - Sandy Buchman
AU  - Fiona Webster
AU  - Amna Husain
AU  - Russell Goldman
TI  - Are family medicine residents adequately trained to deliver palliative care?
DP  - 2015 Dec 01
TA  - Canadian Family Physician
PG  - e577--e582
VI  - 61
IP  - 12
4099  - http://www.cfp.ca/content/61/12/e577.short
4100  - http://www.cfp.ca/content/61/12/e577.full
SO  - Can Fam Physician2015 Dec 01; 61
AB  - Objective To explore educational factors that influence family medicine residents’ (FMRs’) intentions to offer palliative care and palliative care home visits to patients.Design Qualitative descriptive study.Setting A Canadian, urban, specialized palliative care centre.Participants First-year (n = 9) and second-year (n = 6) FMRs.Methods Semistructured interviews were conducted with FMRs following a 4-week palliative care rotation. Questions focused on participant experiences during the rotation and perceptions about their roles as family physicians in the delivery of palliative care and home visits. Participant responses were analyzed to summarize and interpret patterns related to their educational experience during their rotation.Main findings Four interrelated themes were identified that described this experience: foundational skill development owing to training in a specialized setting; additional need for education and support; unaddressed gaps in pragmatic skills; and uncertainty about family physicians’ role in palliative care.Conclusion Residents described experiences that both supported and inadvertently discouraged them from considering future engagement in palliative care. Reassuringly, residents were also able to underscore opportunities for improvement in palliative care education.