چکیده (انگلیسی):

Background:There is a growing need for palliative care. The majority of palliative patients prefer their general
practitioner (GP) to organize their palliative home care. General practitioners need a range of competences to
perform this task. However, there has been no general description so far of how GPs keep these competences
up-to-date. The present study explores current experiences, views and preferences towards training and education
in palliative care among GPs, palliative home-care professionals and professionals from organizations who provide
training and education.
Methods:Five focus groups were brought together in Belgium, with a total of 29 participants, including members
of the three categories mentioned above. They were analysed using a constant comparison method.
Results:The analysis revealed that undergraduate education and continuing medical education (CME) while in
practice, is insufficient to prepare GPs for their palliative work. Workplace learning (WPL) through collaboration with
specialized palliative home-care nurses seems to be a valuable alternative.
Conclusions:The effectiveness of undergraduate education might be enhanced by adding practical experience.
Providers of continuing medical education should look to organize interactive, practice-based and interprofessional
sessions. Therefore, teachers need to be trained to run small group discussions. In order to optimize workplace
learning, health care professionals should be trained to monitor each other’s practice and to provide effective
feedback. Further research is needed to clarify which aspects of interprofessional teamwork (e.g. professional
hierarchy, agreements on tasks and responsibilities) influence the effectiveness of workplace learning.