Outcome Evaluation of the Palliative Care Emphasis Program on Symptom Management and Assessment for Continuous Medical Education: Nationwide Physician Education Project for Primary Palliative Care in Japan

Abstract

Objective:

Palliative care is an essential part of medicine, but most physicians have had no formal opportunity to acquire basic skills in palliative care. In Japan, the Palliative care Emphasis program on symptom management and Assessment for Continuous Medical Education (PEACE) was launched to provide formal primary palliative care education for all physicians engaged in cancer care. This study sought to determine whether PEACE could improve physicians' knowledge of, practices in, and difficulties with palliative care.

Methods:

In 2011, we conducted questionnaire-based surveys before, just after, and 2 months after completion of the PEACE program in physicians participating in the program at each of 15 designated cancer hospitals in Japan. Knowledge was measured using the palliative care knowledge questionnaire for PEACE (PEACE-Q). Practices and difficulties were evaluated using the Palliative Care self-reported Practice Scale (PCPS) and the Palliative Care Difficulties Scale (PCDS), respectively.

Results:

Among 223 physicians participating in the program, 85 (38%) answered the follow-up survey. Significant improvements were noted on the PEACE-Q compared with baseline immediately after completion of the program, and this progress was maintained at 2 months (21.7±5.56 versus 29.5±2.10 versus 28.7±3.28, respectively; p<0.0001). Similarly, significant improvements were noted for total scores on both the PCPS and the PCDS at 2 months after completion of the program (62.1±13.9 versus 69.6±9.94 [p<0.0001] for the PCPS; 44.4±9.96 versus 39.4±10.7 [p<0.0001] for the PCDS).

Conclusions:

The PEACE education program improved physicians' knowledge of, practices in, and difficulties with palliative care.

Introduction

Palliative care has been an essential part of cancer care in the past 30 years.¹ To provide quality palliative care, education for physicians is crucial; however, most physicians have not had the opportunity to acquire basic clinical skills in palliative care.

Recently, several countries established nationwide palliative care education programs.^2,3 In the United States, the Education for Physicians in End-of-life Care (EPEC^™) Project² aimed to increase physicians' knowledge about palliative care, with 62% of the participants attaining improved knowledge.

The Japanese government introduced the Cancer Control Act in 2008. The act states that palliative care should be provided from the time of diagnosis, and one of the most important objectives of this act was to improve the quality of life of the patients and their families. Accordingly, a basic program was designed to provide opportunities for all physicians engaged in cancer care to acquire palliative care education; namely the Palliative care Emphasis program on symptom management and Assessment for Continuous medical Education (PEACE).⁴ The PEACE program focuses not only on basic palliative care knowledge, but also on education in a range of other factors such as solving patient misunderstandings about opioids, reducing the difficulty in breaking bad news to patients, cultivating an appropriate manner for listening to and sympathizing with the patient, and formulating a care plan among an interdisciplinary team.

PEACE is a 2-day program with 9 modules, comprising 12-hour interactive workshops that combine didactic plenary sessions, role-play sessions, and small group discussions. Despite approximately 37,000 physicians completing the program to date,⁵ it remains unclear whether the PEACE program improves physicians' knowledge and the quality of palliative care.

The aim of this study was to evaluate whether the PEACE program improves physicians' knowledge of, practices in, and difficulties with palliative care.

Methods

Participants

The subjects of this study were all physicians participating in any one of 15 workshops based on PEACE programs in designated cancer hospitals throughout Japan from October 1 to December 31, 2011.

Measures

In general, outcomes of education should be assessed across three domains: knowledge, skills, and attitudes.⁶ In this study, knowledge was measured using the PEACE-Q, which is a questionnaire developed within the PEACE program for evaluating palliative care knowledge.⁷ However, we found no simple instruments to measure skills and attitudes. Although clinical observation or clinical skills assessment are ideal ways to assess skills and attitudes, it was not realistic in the present study because of resource limitations. Thus, we decided instead to measure practices and difficulties using the Palliative Care self-reported Practice Scale (PCPS) and the Palliative Care Difficulties Scale (PCDS), respectively.⁸ The PCPS was developed to measure adherence by physicians to recommended palliative care practice guidelines in terms of skills and attitudes. The PCDS was developed to measure actual difficulties for health professionals providing palliative care, and it also contains items covering both domains such as “When a patient expresses anxiety, it is difficult to respond,” and “After a patient is informed of bad news, it is difficult to talk.”

Background characteristics

We obtained demographic information about the study participants (e.g., gender, age, specialty, institution, years of clinical experience, the number of terminally ill cancer patients in the past year, the number of patients prescribed opioids in the past year, the number of cancer patients who died in the previous year, and training experience with the palliative care unit).

Knowledge

Knowledge was measured using the PEACE-Q.⁷ This questionnaire has 33 items across the following 9 domains: (1) philosophy of palliative care, (2) cancer pain, (3) side effects of opioids, (4) dyspnea, (5) nausea and vomiting, (6) psychological distress, (7) delirium, (8) communication, and (9) community-based palliative care. The PEACE-Q scores range from 0 to 33, with higher scores indicating higher levels of knowledge.

Practices

Practices were measured using the PCPS.⁸ This scale has 18 items across the following 6 domains: (1) pain, (2) dyspnea, (3) delirium, (4) dying-phase care, (5) communication, and (6) patient- and family-centered care. Each item is evaluated using a Likert-type scale from 1 (not at all) to 5 (always). The scores on the PCPS range from 18 to 90, with higher scores indicating higher levels of performance of recommended practices.

Difficulties

Difficulties were measured using the PCDS.⁸ This scale has 15 items across the following 5 domains: (1) alleviation of symptoms, (2) expert support, (3) communication in multidisciplinary teams, (4) communication with the patient and family, and (5) community coordination. Each item is evaluated by agreement with statements on a Likert-type scale from 1 (never) to 5 (very much). The scores on the PCDS range from 15 to 75, with higher scores indicating higher levels of perceived difficulties in providing palliative care.

Procedure

Participants completed a 2-day workshop based on the PEACE program. PEACE-Q, PCPS, and PCDS were evaluated on site before the program and immediately after completion of the program. The follow-up survey was conducted by mailed questionnaire 2 months after completion of the program, and again evaluated PEACE-Q, PCPS, and PCDS. The ethical and scientific validity of this study was approved by the institutional review board of Saku Central Hospital. Consent to participate was indicated by completion and return of the questionnaire, with no reminder or reward offered.

Statistical analyses

Two-tailed paired t tests were used to evaluate changes in participants' knowledge, attitude, and difficulties pre- and post-workshop. Statistical analysis was performed using the statistical software JMP (JMP 10.0.2; SAS Institute Japan Inc., Tokyo, Japan). The significance level was set at p<0.05 (two-tailed).

Results

A total of 223 physicians participated in the PEACE program during the study period, and all physicians completed the program. All 223 physicians answered the pre- and post-PEACE questionnaires on site, whereas 85 participants (38.1%) returned the follow-up survey conducted 2 months after the program. Table 1 summarizes the baseline data of all participants.

Table 1.

Characteristics of Participants

	All participants	Follow-up survey	First survey only
	(n=223)	(n=85)	(n=138)
	N (%)^a	N (%)^a	N (%)^a
Age, mean±SD	38.1±11.2	39.5±11.3	37.2±11.1
Gender
Male	176 (78.9)	67 (78.8)	109 (79.0)
Female	47 (21.1)	18 (21.2)	29 (21.0)
Specialty
Internal medicine	73 (32.9)	31 (36.5)	42 (30.7)
Surgery	51 (23.0)	21 (24.7)	30 (21.9)
Resident	45 (20.3)	14 (16.5)	31 (22.6)
Other	54 (24.2)	19 (22.4)	35 (25.4)
Institution
Designated cancer hospitals	116 (52.0)	40 (47.1)	76 (55.1)
Hospital over 200 beds	62 (27.8)	22 (25.9)	40 (29.0)
Hospital under 199 beds	16 (7.2)	8 (9.4)	8 (5.8)
Clinic	27 (12.1)	14 (16.5)	13 (9.4)
Other	2 (0.9)	1 (1.2)	1 (0.7)
Years of clinical experiences, mean±SD	11.7±10.8	12.9±10.8	11.0±10.8
Numbers of terminally ill cancer patients in the past year
None	13 (5.9)	3 (3.57)	10 (7.3)
1–9	66 (29.7)	29 (34.5)	37 (26.8)
0–49	93 (41.9)	36 (42.9)	57 (41.3)
50–99	23 (10.4)	6 (7.14)	17 (12.3)
100–	27 (12.2)	10 (11.9)	17 (12.3)
Numbers of patients prescribed opioids in the past year
None	33 (14.9)	14 (16.7)	19 (13.8)
1–9	85 (38.5)	31 (39.9)	54 (39.4)
10–49	79 (35.7)	30 (35.7)	49 (35.8)
50–99	14 (6.3)	6 (7.1)	8 (5.8)
100–	10 (4.5)	3 (3.6)	7 (5.1)
Number of cancer deaths per year
None	26 (11.8)	8 (9.52)	18 (13.2)
1–9	114 (51.8)	49 (58.8)	65 (47.8)
10–49	70 (31.8)	24 (28.6)	46 (33.8)
50–99	5 (2.3)	2 (2.4)	3 (2.2)
100–	5 (22.7)	1 (1.2)	4 (2.9)
Training experiences with the palliative care unit
Yes	5 (2.3)	2 (2.4)	3 (2.2)
No	217 (97.7)	83 (97.6)	134 (97.8)

The percentages do not add up to 100% due to missing values.

SD, standard deviation.

Compared with baseline scores, significant improvements due to the PEACE program were identified by the questionnaire completed immediately after completion of the program (21.4±5.2 versus 29.5±2.1; p<0.0001). Furthermore, these improvements were sustained 2 months later (21.7±5.6 versus 28.7±3.3; p<0.0001) (Table 2).

Table 2.

Change in Total Score for PEACE-Q, PCPS, and PCDS (n=85)

	Before PEACE	2 months after PEACE	P value
PEACE-Q	21.7	28.7	<0.0001
PCPS	62.1	69.6	<0.0001
PCDS	44.4	39.4	<0.0001

PEACE-Q range is 0 to 33, and higher score indicates higher level of knowledge. PCPS range is 18 to 90, and higher score indicates higher level of performance of recommended practices. PCDS range is 15 to 75, and higher score indicates higher levels of perceived difficulties in providing palliative care.

PEACE, Palliative care Emphasis program on symptom management and Assessment for Continuous medical Education; PCDS, Palliative Care Difficulties Scale; PCPS, Palliative Care self-reported Practice Scale.

Similarly, significant improvements were noted for total PCPS and PCDS scores 2 months after the program (62.1±13.9 versus 69.6±9.9 for the PCPS; 44.4±10.0 versus 39.4±10.7 for the PCDS) (Table 2).

Improvement occurred in all domains of the PEACE-Q and PCPS (Tables 3 and 4), whereas no significant changes were noted in two domains of the PCDS evaluation, specifically in expert support and communication in multidisciplinary teams (Table 5).

Table 3.

Change in the PEACE-Q for Each Domain (n=85)

	Before	Immediately	2 months	P value^a
	PEACE	after PEACE	after PEACE
Philosophy of palliative care	2.57	2.90	2.90	<0.0001
Cancer pain	5.58	7.89	7.54	<0.0001
Side effects of opioids	1.90	2.45	2.43	<0.0001
Dyspnea	1.59	2.65	2.37	<0.0001
Nausea and vomiting	1.71	2.84	2.81	<0.0001
Psychological distress	2.45	2.94	2.83	<0.0001
Delirium	1.96	2.53	2.41	<0.0001
Communication	2.40	2.89	2.82	<0.0001
Community-based palliative care	1.54	2.37	2.63	<0.0001

The P value was calculated baseline.

Each domain of PEACE-Q except “cancer pain” ranges from 0 to 3, and the “cancer pain” domain ranges from 0 to 9. For both, higher score indicates higher level of knowledge.

PEACE, Palliative care Emphasis program on symptom management and Assessment for Continuous medical Education.

Table 4.

Change in the PCPS for Each Domain (n=85)

	Before PEACE	2 months after PEACE	P value
Pain	11.1	12.0	0.0001
Dyspnea	10.1	11.2	<0.0001
Delirium	8.00	10.2	<0.0001
Dying-phase care	10.1	11.3	0.0004
Communication	11.7	12.6	0.0005
Patient– and family-centered care	11.5	12.3	0.0016

Each domain of PCPS ranges from 3 to 15, and higher score indicates higher level of performance of recommended practices.

PCPS, Palliative Care self-reported Practice Scale.

Table 5.

Change in the PCDS for Each Domain (n=85)

	Before PEACE	2 months after PEACE	P value
Alleviation of symptom	11.0	8.63	<0.0001
Expert support	7.77	7.20	0.051
Communication in multidisciplinary teams	8.10	7.58	0.052
Communication with the patient and family	8.90	8.01	0.0008
Community coordination	8.64	7.96	0.046

Each domain of PCDS ranges from 3 to 15, and higher score indicates higher levels of perceived difficulties in providing palliative care.

PCDS, Palliative Care Difficulties Scale.

Discussion

To our best knowledge, this is the first study to demonstrate using a validated scale significant improvements in physicians' knowledge of palliative care following an education program focused on primary palliative care.

The most important finding from this study is that the PEACE program not only improved physicians' knowledge of palliative care, but also that the results were sustained at 2 months following completion of the program. Although many previous studies have shown objective improvements in knowledge, only a few studies have examined the sustainability of outcomes.³ This sustainability outcome might result from the original program designs to facilitate converting the knowledge to memory and to change practices and attitudes using role-play and case studies. For example, we taught about patient barriers to opioid use by lecture, after which we asked participants to use the knowledge in a role-play whereby they must explain prescribing opioids to opioid-naïve patients with a focus on reducing the opioid barriers.

The second important finding of the study was that the physicians' attitudes toward and difficulties with palliative care were significantly improved 2 months after the program; previous studies have only reported a limited effect on either parameter.³ This finding is reasonable because an effective palliative care curriculum requires a multifaceted approach, incorporating a variety of intentional strategies to address the multiple competencies required.

The third important finding is that two domains of the PCDS were not improved (e.g., expert support and communication in multidisciplinary teams). Rather then being related to the program curriculum, this finding could be attributable to the health care system in Japan, wherein there are insufficient numbers of palliative care specialists⁴ and multidisciplinary teams do not function adequately.⁹ Therefore, these domains may not improve by participation in the education program. To improve the results across these domains, other approaches such as creating opportunities to meet the community palliative care team or holding a multidisciplinary conference to develop collaborative relationships among health care workers in the region may be effective.¹⁰

This study had several limitations, the first of which is the potential for response bias. However, we expect that similar results could be obtained because there were no significant differences between the participants responding to the follow-up survey conducted 2 months after the program and those who did not respond to the follow-up survey (Table1). In addition, we acknowledge that the limitation of a low response rate is unavoidable in physician-based surveys, because other nationwide surveys as a part of a national strategy performed by the Japanese Medical Association and Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare achieved a similar or lower response rate, that is, 36% and 43%, respectively.^10,11 It is necessary to develop more reliable follow-up systems.

Second, the conclusion of the current study may be weak because this study has no control group. To demonstrate rigid evidence of improving the competency of physicians, the ideal would be to conduct a controlled trial, although we could not find one among previous studies. Further study will be needed using a randomized control design.

Third, it is still unknown whether improving self-reported measures of physicians can measure quality of palliative care. Because the true outcome of primary palliative care education is improving the quality of life of patients and their families, further research is needed using patient-related outcomes.

In conclusion, the PEACE program may improve physicians' knowledge of, practices in, and difficulties with palliative care. Further studies will be needed to clarify the true effectiveness of primary palliative care education.

Footnotes

Acknowledgments

This study was supported by a Health and Labor Sciences Research Grant for Clinical Cancer Research.

Author Disclosure Statement

No competing financial interests exist.

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