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Primary Palliative Care Education for Geriatricians: Lessons Learned

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Abstract

As the population ages and the number of patients with multimorbidity increases, geriatricians will benefit from having strong primary palliative care skills.

Purpose of review

To identify educational resources that show promise as potential tools for geriatricians wishing to improve upon their primary palliative care skills. The objective of this review was to determine the current resources and advances in primary palliative care education for geriatricians.

Recent findings

The review encompassed literature written between 2018–2022 accessed via PubMed and Google Scholar. From the review process itself, we learned that there is no standard definition of primary palliative care (PPC) and that different domains of PPC are often taught and studied separately. While many aspects of palliative care are now incorporated into the geriatric medicine fellowship educational milestones, the PPC competencies for practicing geriatricians remains ill-defined. This suggests that creating a standardized definition of PPC will benefit future research and help better define the scope of both palliative care and geriatric medicine. Furthermore, the majority of PPC offerings are piecemeal in nature with significant variety in cost and educational content.

Summary

PPC education is often marketed to a wide range of practitioners and there exists little geriatric-specific PPC education. PPC education designed specifically for practicing geriatricians who may not have had the benefit of a more recent fellowship experience remains an area primed for further opportunity and expansion.

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References

Papers of particular interest, published recently, have been highlighted as: •• Of major importance

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Gerontology & Geriatric Medicine, University of Washington School of Medicine, Box 359755, 325 9th Ave, Seattle, WA, 98104, USA

    Lianne A. Hirano & Gina Kang

Authors
  1. Lianne A. Hirano
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  2. Gina Kang
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Correspondence to Lianne A. Hirano.

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Hirano, L.A., Kang, G. Primary Palliative Care Education for Geriatricians: Lessons Learned. Curr Geri Rep 12, 85–92 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13670-023-00394-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13670-023-00394-4

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