A 2-days intensive course for interdisciplinary professionals can improve the knowledge and beliefs about ethical decision-making in managing terminally ill patients. Clinical skills of symptom management, especially pain control, and ethical decision-making regarding artificial nutrition and hydration should be emphasized in medical education, to promote professionals’ competence in end-of-life care.

Interdisciplinary medical education lacks standardized curricula for teaching palliative care in Saudi Arabia. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the effect of a multimodal teaching course on interdisciplinary teams knowledge of palliative care, and their beliefs relating to ethical decision-making.

This study had a quasi-experimental design. This study was coducted in palliative care department in King Fahad Medical City.The teaching formats included didactic lectures, microteaching, small group teaching, and interactive discussions.. All participants completed a pretest, posttest questionnaire (immediately following their training session). A structured questionnaire evaluated the effects of educational intervention—in terms of knowledge of palliative care and beliefs about common ethical dilemmas relating to end-of-life care in Saudi Arabia.

Interdisciplinary training needed in palliative care education.

1.Palliative care department in KFMC-Riyadh.

2. Postgraduate family medicine taining center-MOH.

All 23 professionals who participated in the course completed the questionnaire. Interdisciplinary professionals showed significant improvement (score of 10.5 pre-test vs. 13.8 post-test; p < 0.001) in the 20-item palliative care knowledge questionnaire after educational intervention. Among the four common ethical dilemmas, health professionals’ beliefs of truth-telling (4.19 vs. 4.55; range 1–5; t = −4.64; p < 0.001) and place of care (4.26 vs. 4.50; range 1–5; t =−2.34; p < 0.05) were significantly improved. Logistic regression showed that the improvement in beliefs about ethical decision-making was not significantly influenced by improved knowledge of palliative care.

1.Laura Petri .Concept Analysis of Interdisciplinary Collaboration.Nursing Forum.Vol 45 Issue 2.pages 73-82.April 2012.