Evaluation of the knowledge about palliative care and pain by fifth and sixty year medical students

DOI:10.15343/0104-7809.20103320326

Abstract

Medical educators have been noticing an increasing necessity for teaching how to care for terminal patients, and are attempting
to improve their actions. There are evidences indicating that the deficit in education and training in palliative care cause
negative consequences for both doctors and patients. Due to this an interest appears in knowing how medical students in the end of the
course feel about the treatment of pain, the main symptom of terminal patients, and how they communicate with patients. The aim of
this work is to evaluate the degree of knowledge on pain and palliative cares of São Paulo medical students of the fifth and sixth years
by applying an anonymous questionnaire having 19 closed questions. Answered questionnaires were analyzed considering the aspects
of technical education, perception of physiopathological knowledge, semiology and therapeutics associated to pain. |Results show a
significant knowledge on pain and definitions in palliative care. However, there is also a great difficulty in the practical application of
these concepts. The creation of a special discipline for Palliative Care may solve these education deficiencies.