Abstract

Aim: Educational possibilities in palliative care have been overseen in this part of Europe and therefore this important issue should be addressed to implement current treatment palliative care in Slovenia. This study was the first in Slovenia dealing with the self-rated knowledge and self-efficacy associated with educational programmes attended about palliative medicine at primary health care level. Material and methods: Material for our work was general practitioner (GP) who work in education like tutors. A cross–sectional study was carried out from July to November 2015 with participation of them. For the purpose of the study (self-assessment of knowledge and efficacy), the validated questionnaire Palliative Kompetenztest (PKT) was applied with added some demographical data. 138 of the 250 invited GP answered the questionnaire. Results: Knowledge was averagely assessed with 23.0 ± 4.0 (out of 34) and self-efficacy achieved 38.5 ± 8.6 out of 54 points. Physicians who attended “Step by step” educational model, rated their knowledge (26.2 ± 3.4 (p < 0.001)) and self-efficacy higher (41.9 ± 7.7 (p < 0.010)) in comparison with those who attended conferences and other palliative care related capacity building programmes. Conclusion: When taking into account self-assessed knowledge and efficacy in palliative care, it was shown the capacity-building program “Step by step” to be an effective model for GPs. However, self-perceived efficiency due to past experience was also shown to be associated with the efficiency score, therefore we should be restrained in favouring specific capacity building programme at this time.

Key words: family medicine tutorial programs, palliative care.