Palliative care knowledge among final year medicine and health sciences students: a cross-sectional study.

Background: According to the World Health Organization (WHO), approximately 40 million people need palliative care each year. In the year 2020, an estimated 56.8 million adults and children experienced unnecessary suffering that can be managed and treated by palliative care. In the Malaysian context, the number of people requiring palliative care is estimated to be 56,000 yearly, including all diseases. This increasing need for care requires study and increasing education of all healthcare professionals. There is a lack of studies on the medical students' knowledge of palliative care conducted in Malaysia and this study aimed to evaluate the knowledge of palliative care among final-year undergraduate medicine and health science students. Patients and methods: This cross-sectional study targeted the final year students who are currently studying at universities in Klang Valley. The respondents were recruited using convenience sampling methods. Results: A total of 102 responses were collected from the medical, physiotherapy, and nursing students, and the results showed that the participants had attained at least an average knowledge of palliative care. Limitation: Small sample size, therefore, unable to represent the study population as a whole. Conclusion: All healthcare professionals should receive training in the basic knowledge and skill that they need as the healthcare institution should provide workshops or e-learning modules for students in their clinical postings and expose them to the principles of palliative care, to increase their knowledge and behaviour to dying patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]