IGCS palliative care global curriculum version 1: experience from graduates

Introduction Palliative care uses a multidisciplinary approach and is recommended early in advanced disease. Despite data showing its importance, a 2018 IGCS members’ survey revealed that most members lacked training in palliative care and wanted to improve their skills. As a Presidential initiative, the IGCS Palliative Care Workgroup developed an online Global Curriculum to be as generalizable and flexible as possible, so that it would be useful to a variety of professionals practicing in different regions of the world, in different circumstances, and cultural and legal structures.

Methods The Global Palliative Care Curriculum was developed by 12 authors and is composed of nine chapters addressing critical topics. Each chapter has a case vignette, pre- and posttest questions, objectives, description of the topic, and references. Each chapter was reviewed by other chapter authors, with IGCS co-editors and a professional medical editor conducting a final review.

Results IGCS Global Palliative Care Curriculum Version 1 was launched in September 2020. As of May 2023, 133 applicants started the program, of whom 63 have completed the program. Forty-four percent (28/63) of those who completed the program completed the post-program survey. Overall, applicants agreed that the content fulfilled their expectations, and improved their skills in this field (table 1).