Abstract
Dear Editor:
We read with interest Dr. Weissman's recent editorial “Technology and the Future of Palliative Care Education.” Dr. Weissman makes a compelling case for the need to integrate new technologies into palliative medicine education at all levels of training and for practicing clinicians. Recognizing the limitations of current educational offerings that Dr. Weissman details, we at the Center to Advance Palliative Care (CAPC) in partnership with Vital Talk have recently launched a new palliative care curriculum that is interactive, based on modern principles of adult learning, and most importantly is easily and rapidly scalable. At present, core modules include courses in pain management, symptom management, and communication skills, with additional modules in care coordination, family caregiver support, and specific disease trajectories being rolled out in 2016. To support the knowledge acquisition and attitude changes that are the targeted outcomes of the curriculum, CAPC provides opportunities for both learners and educators to virtually connect with palliative care leaders in real time to ask questions and discuss course content. By offering this blended approach we hope to provide a sustainable mechanism both for educating clinicians in core palliative care clinical skills, and helping institutions to create the systems changes that are necessary to change practice behavior. The CAPC curriculum, as Dr. Weissman recommends, was designed in collaboration with colleagues from instructional design, education, psychology, and computer technology.
Whereas it is too early to evaluate the success and impact of the program, since launching in January 2015 over 5000 clinicians have fully completed 30,000 modules in hundreds of institutions throughout the United States. Given the workforce issues facing our field and the need to ensure that all practicing clinicians develop core palliative care knowledge, skills, and attitudes in order to meet the needs of seriously ill patients and their families, we hope that our recently launched educational materials will begin to help meet these needs and serve as a model for additional palliative care educational offerings.