TY - JOUR
T1 - Supporting surgical residents learning clinical palliative care
T2 - Insights from multi-disciplinary focus groups
AU - Schultz, Kristen
AU - Howard, Shannon
AU - Siegel, Timothy
AU - Zonies, David
AU - Brasel, Karen
AU - Cook, Mackenzie
AU - Moreno, Kirstin
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 Elsevier Inc.
PY - 2022/8
Y1 - 2022/8
N2 - Background: A shortage of palliative care (PC) sub-specialists highlights the need for quality PC provided by treating surgeons, although no established curriculum exists to teach surgical residents PC skills. To guide curriculum development, we sought to determine what modifiable factors contribute to surgical residents successfully providing PC. Methods: Eight focus groups with 34 participants were conducted. Semi-structured interviews were recorded, transcribed, and de-identified. Inductive thematic analysis was utilized to encode, identify, and categorize emergent themes. Results: Barriers to resident involvement in PC included: Limited Knowledge/Inexperience, Communication Difficulties, Time Constraints, and Burnout. Factors supporting resident involvement included: Patient Relationship/Rapport, Expertise Guiding PC Discussions, and Institutional Support. Communication skills that support successful PC delivery include establishing rapport, managing conflicts, avoiding bias, and acknowledging personal/scientific limitations. Discussion: This work identifies modifiable factors that support surgical residents providing PC. Faculty and institutional support, resident education on PC principles, and expanding clinical experience with PC may be the most modifiable from a programmatic perspective. Curriculum and process development focused on these areas will help optimize surgical resident's success delivering PC.
AB - Background: A shortage of palliative care (PC) sub-specialists highlights the need for quality PC provided by treating surgeons, although no established curriculum exists to teach surgical residents PC skills. To guide curriculum development, we sought to determine what modifiable factors contribute to surgical residents successfully providing PC. Methods: Eight focus groups with 34 participants were conducted. Semi-structured interviews were recorded, transcribed, and de-identified. Inductive thematic analysis was utilized to encode, identify, and categorize emergent themes. Results: Barriers to resident involvement in PC included: Limited Knowledge/Inexperience, Communication Difficulties, Time Constraints, and Burnout. Factors supporting resident involvement included: Patient Relationship/Rapport, Expertise Guiding PC Discussions, and Institutional Support. Communication skills that support successful PC delivery include establishing rapport, managing conflicts, avoiding bias, and acknowledging personal/scientific limitations. Discussion: This work identifies modifiable factors that support surgical residents providing PC. Faculty and institutional support, resident education on PC principles, and expanding clinical experience with PC may be the most modifiable from a programmatic perspective. Curriculum and process development focused on these areas will help optimize surgical resident's success delivering PC.
KW - Palliative care
KW - Resident education
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U2 - 10.1016/j.amjsurg.2022.02.062
DO - 10.1016/j.amjsurg.2022.02.062
M3 - Article
C2 - 35287936
AN - SCOPUS:85126322454
SN - 0002-9610
VL - 224
SP - 676
EP - 680
JO - American journal of surgery
JF - American journal of surgery
IS - 2
ER -