Pasemeco Project

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Improving palliative care education for our future doctors.

The need for palliative care is increasing due to the expanding aging population and the growing number of people with chronic diseases such as cancer, heart failure, COPD and dementia. Although every medical student and doctor will be in contact with patients in the palliative phase, teaching and learning about palliative care in undergraduate curricula is fragmented and suboptimal. The Pasemeco project is looking to change that.

The Pasemeco project aims to have a direct impact on the medical undergraduate education in the Netherlands by developing education on palliative care in a design-based research project. It is a national project funded by ZonMw, a Dutch organisation for health research and development. All eight universities in the Netherlands that offer undergraduate medical curricula have committed to this project. 

Key competencies

Jolien Pieters (PhD candidate) found that medical students agree that palliative care is an important topic that is insufficiently covered. They feel ill-prepared for tasks in this domain. She subsequently conducted a Delphi study with five groups of stakeholders (palliative care experts, physicians, nurses, curriculum coordinators and junior doctors) to validate a competency framework organised around six key competencies: communication, advance care planning, pain and symptom management, working in a multidisciplinary team, end-of-life care, and professional development and well-being.

Online toolbox

The Pasemeco team is focused on helping Dutch medical faculties with implementing palliative care education into their curricula. Part of the project is the development of an online toolbox filled with educational activities and required materials. “Teachers can use the toolbox freely. Some materials are "ready-made", others can be adjusted according to preference," say Franca Warmenhoven and Judith Westen, project leaders at Pasemeco. The project team also develops and evaluates new educational formats and materials. “We are mainly looking to fill existing gaps. Think of educational about existential aspects of care, advance care planning and patients’ perspectives”. Jimmy Frèrejean is developing a set of virtual patients.

The Pasemeco project has one year to go. In 2020 the project team will focus on supporting the implementation and evaluation of palliative care education. Daniëlle Verstegen concludes: “The aim is to embed palliative care in the curricula, so that it can become an entirely logical part of healthcare practice. That's what all of this is for."

The Pasemeco project team:

Franca Warmenhoven & Judith Westen (project leaders, both physicians), Jolien Pieters (PHD student), Jimmy Frèrejean, Daniëlle Verstegen and Diana Dolmans (SHE), Annemie Courtens and Marieke van den Beuken (Expertise centre palliative care Maastricht University Medical Center)