title: The need of pediatric palliative care education among pediatric postgraduates in South India.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess the status of Pediatric Palliative care education among the pediatric postgraduates in South India and reinforce the need to introduce a targeted curriculum to improve their skills and confidence levels in handling terminally ill children.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study was conducted in a 2 d workshop attended by 180 pediatric postgraduates from South India. An 18 point questionnaire was given to the participants and the questions were to test their clinical knowledge and confidence levels in treating terminally ill children. SPSS 18.V software was used for statistical analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Eighty eight percent of the postgraduates had never received any training in any aspect of palliative care. 77.3 % felt uncomfortable in initiating a discussion about palliative care with the family members. 60.7 % were not comfortable with the care of the dying patient. 87.3 % strongly supported that a formal training in palliative care would improve their competence in this field.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  There is a huge lacunae in the delivery of palliative care services and hence an urgent need to inculcate targeted curriculum to provide focused skills and training for the pediatric postgraduates.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Sri Ramachandra University, Porur, Chennai, India.
authors.forename: Magatha Sneha
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Latha
authors.forename: Ram Prakash
authors.initials: RP
authors.lastname: Thirugnanasambandam
authors.forename: Narayanan
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Balakrishnan
authors.forename: Haree Shankar
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Meghanathan
authors.forename: Aravind
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Moorthy
authors.forename: Padmasani
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Venkatraman
authors.forename: Venkataraman
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Paramasivam
authors.forename: Julius Xavier
authors.initials: JX
authors.lastname: Scott
mesh_terms: D004511:Education, Nursing, Graduate; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand / Q000639:trends; D007194:India; D010166:Palliative Care; D010372:Pediatrics / Q000193:education*