UICC World Cancer Congress 2006

Objective: Health care professionals in Latin America are not adequately trained to provide effective interventions to control symptoms and suffering in patients with advanced cancer. There are no guidelines for teaching palliative care and existing teaching formats are inappropriate. The objective of this study was to assess the level and quality of education of health care providers working in palliative care.

Methods: An invitation was sent via email through the Latin American Association for Palliative Care (ALCP) to participate in an on-line survey posted in the ALCP website during September 5 to October 5, 2005. The questionnaire included ten questions and was available in Spanish and Portuguese. The survey focused on the level, amount and type of education the respondents had access to.

Results: Three hundred twenty nine surveys were received from 17 countries. The majority of the respondents were female physicians between the ages of 26 and 45, living in large urban centers. Results indicate that although a majority (80%) of the respondents delivers palliative care to patients with advanced cancer and other conditions, less than 15% received any palliative care education in their undergraduate training and most have gained their knowledge through lectures and self education programs after graduation. Only a few had the possibility to access palliative care education that include classroom combined with bedside teaching. Results also indicate that 91 % of the respondents performed some kind of learning activity during the last 5 years.