Enhancing palliative care education in medical school curricula: Implementation of the Palliative Education Assessment Tool

The authors report the results of a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation-funded project that catalyzed New York State medical schools to develop and implement strategic plans for curricular change to enhance palliative care education. The project used the Palliative Education Assessment Tool for curricular mapping of palliative care education throughout each school's four-year curriculum and used site visits to facilitate strategic planning within each institution. Of the 14 New York State medical schools, 13 participated in the project. Ten provided strategic plans for change, with a total of 71 specific goals (median = 5 per school). Of these goals, 67 (94.4%) had been implemented or were in the active-planning process one year after the plans were created. Overall, palliative care content was enhanced in four curricular areas: basic science courses, ethics and humanities courses, clerkship rotations, and faculty development in palliative care. The process of self-assessment, curriculum mapping of a specific thematic area, and strategic planning for change appears to have successfully enhanced the palliative care content in the medical schools' curricula.