This project aims to better understand the information needs relating to education-based activities and outcomes to monitor and evaluate education efforts across the Division of Palliative Care (DPC). Currently, trainees (medical under- and post-graduates, physician trainees and fellows) from a variety of disciplines (e.g. Family Medicine, Internal Medicine, Nephrology) are trained through DPC sites across Hamilton-central, Niagara and Kitchener-Waterloo. Faculty expressed interest in better understanding the organization, delivery, communication and information systems supporting palliative care education. Initial interviews and focus groups with DPC leadership, staff and faculty identified a universal interest in improving knowledge exchange across teaching sites and training programs. Emerging themes include early communication of learner needs and objectives; variation across sites in volume and type of learners, staffing, formal and informal teaching approaches, and extent of interprofessional involvement in teaching and evaluation; and variation in evaluation approaches (e.g. formal tools such as system-triggered MEDSIS assessments and informal verbal feedback). Participants underscored the need for better alignment across rotations within the broader education program and suggested opportunities for improving coordination, exposure to key clinical topics, and overall program structure. Moving forward, additional focus groups are scheduled with the aim of completing data collection across all teaching sites in early 2027.
Project Leads: Michelle Howard, Hun-Je Park, Anne Boyle, Mino Mitri, Alison Flanagan, Sarah Romeril, Ashlinder Gill, Madeline Inglis, Kaitlyn Boese, Sammy Winemaker Contact: Ashlinder Gill (gilla89@mcmaster.ca)
Research Project Update
Prison Health, Research Project Update