Avaliação do conhecimento sobre cuidados paliativos entre estudantes de medicina de uma universidade no nordeste do Brasil

Abstract

Introduction: Palliative care has been recognized throughout the world with the objective of alleviating suffering and improving quality of life. However, insertion of this theme into the medical curriculum is still incipient and students continue to complete their undergraduate education, feeling ill prepared to cope with these patients. Objective: To evaluate the knowledge about palliative care among medical students. Methods: An observational, cross-sectional and analytical study was carried out among students of the fifth and sixth years of the medical course of the Federal University of Sergipe (UFS) in Aracaju, from May to June 2017, through the application of a questionnaire that included socio-demographic data, self-assessment and specific knowledge about palliative care. Results: Of a total of 135 students, less than 30% of the students were aware of the WHO definition of palliative care and only 3% had a perception that they had received enough information to deal with terminal patients. The pain domain presented correct frequencies ranging from 14.8% to 88.9%. The domain of dyspnea and gastrointestinal problems presented values less than 1/3 of correct answers. The frequency of successes in the area of psychiatric problems ranged from 32.6% to 33.3%. The fields of philosophy and communication presented the highest success rates. In the area of pain and psychiatric problems, students in the 11th and 12th periods had the highest median scores in relation to the 9th and 10th periods, with statistical significance (p <0.001). The reliability analysis of the applied questionnaire presented a Cronbach's a of 0.708. Conclusions: Students were not aware of the definition of palliative care associated with a perception of insufficient preparation to deal with terminal patients, especially in pain control and other common symptoms. As for the specific knowledge, although the students presented low frequencies of correct answers in the domains of pain, dyspnea, gastrointestinal and psychiatric problems, particularly in the management of opioids and delirium, the experience of the internship provided an additional knowledge gain, more notably in the domains of pain and psychiatric problems.