Competency and educational needs in palliative careKompetenz und Fortbildungsbedarf in Palliative Care

PURPOSE: To explore general practitioners' (GPs') and nurses' self assessment of professional education, competency and educational needs in palliative care. METHODS: All 897 registered GPs and all 933 registered home care nurses in the Province of Styria/Austria were sent postal questionnaires to evaluate their professional training in (i) pain control and symptom management, (ii) handling psychosocial needs and (iii) ability to cope with work-related distress. RESULTS: 61.8% of 546 evaluable respondents felt not at all or not sufficiently prepared for palliative care by their professional education (GPs: 70%, nurses: 50.4%). GPs rated the competency of their professional guild significantly higher and their educational needs significantly lower than nurses (p < 0.01). Both, GPs and nurses emphasised a great need for education in the area of neuropsychiatric symptom management. CONCLUSION: Our results provide a detailed analysis of needs and may help to target goals for training seminars in palliative care.