title: Implementation of palliative care as a mandatory cross-disciplinary subject (QB13) at the Medical Faculty of the Heinrich-Heine-University Düsseldorf, Germany.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  By means of the revision of the Medical Licensure Act for Physicians (ÄAppO) in 2009, undergraduate palliative care education (UPCE) was incorporated as a mandatory cross sectional examination subject (QB13) in medical education in Germany. Its implementation still constitutes a major challenge for German medical faculties. There is a discrepancy between limited university resources and limited patient availabilities and high numbers of medical students. Apart from teaching theoretical knowledge and skills, palliative care education is faced with the particular challenge of imparting a professional and adequate attitude towards incurably ill and dying patients and their relatives.
  
  
  METHODS
  Against this background, an evidence-based longitudinal UPCE curriculum was systematically developed following Kern's Cycle [1] and partly implemented and evaluated by the students participating in the pilot project. Innovative teaching methods (virtual standardised/simulated patient contacts, e-learning courses, interdisciplinary and interprofessional collaborative teaching, and group sessions for reflective self-development) aim at teaching palliative care-related core competencies within the clinical context and on an interdisciplinary and interprofessional basis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  After almost five years of development and evaluation, the UPCE curriculum comprises 60 teaching units and is being fully implemented and taught for the first time in the winter semester 2014/15. The previous pilot phases were successfully concluded. To date, the pilot phases (n=26), the subproject "E-learning in palliative care" (n=518) and the blended-learning elective course "Communication with dying patients" (n=12) have been successfully evaluated.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  All conducted development steps and all developed programmes are available for other palliative care educators (Open Access). The integrated teaching formats and methods (video, e-learning module, interprofessional education, group sessions for reflexive self-development) and their evaluations are intended to make a contribution to an evidence-based development of palliative care curricula in Germany.
authors.affiliation: Heinrich-Heine-University, Medical Faculty, Interdisciplinary Centre for Palliative Medicine, Düsseldorf, Germany ; Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School and Department of Psychosocial Oncology and Palliative Care, Dana Farber Cancer Institute, USA ; University Hospital Düsseldorf, Clinical Institute of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, Düsseldorf, Germany.
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Schulz
authors.affiliation: Heinrich-Heine-University, Medical Faculty, Interdisciplinary Centre for Palliative Medicine, Düsseldorf, Germany.
authors.forename: Ursula
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Wenzel-Meyburg
authors.affiliation: University Hospital Düsseldorf, Clinical Institute of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, Düsseldorf, Germany.
authors.forename: André
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Karger
authors.affiliation: Heinrich-Heine-University, Medical Faculty, Interdisciplinary Centre for Palliative Medicine, Düsseldorf, Germany.
authors.forename: Alexandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Scherg
authors.affiliation: University Hospital Düsseldorf, Institute of General Medicine, Düsseldorf, Germany.
authors.forename: Jürgen
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: In der Schmitten
authors.affiliation: University Hospital Dusseldorf, Institute of Transplantation Diagnostics and Cell Therapeutics and Clinical Ethics Committee, Düsseldorf, Germany.
authors.forename: Thorsten
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Trapp
authors.affiliation: University Hospital Düsseldorf, Roman Catholic Healthcare Chaplaincy, Düsseldorf, Germany.
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Paling
authors.affiliation: University Hospital Düsseldorf, Protestant Healthcare Chaplaincy, Düsseldorf, Germany.
authors.forename: Simone
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bakus
authors.affiliation: Heinrich-Heine-University, Medical Faculty, Interdisciplinary Centre for Palliative Medicine, Düsseldorf, Germany.
authors.forename: Gesa
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Schatte
authors.affiliation: Heinrich-Heine-University, Medical Faculty, Interdisciplinary Centre for Palliative Medicine, Düsseldorf, Germany.
authors.forename: Eva
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Rudolf
authors.affiliation: Heinrich-Heine-University, Medical Faculty, Deanery of Student Affairs, Düsseldorf, Germany.
authors.forename: Ulrich
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Decking
authors.affiliation: Heinrich-Heine-University, Medical Faculty, Institute of Forensic Medicine, Düsseldorf, Germany.
authors.forename: Stephanie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ritz-Timme
authors.affiliation: University Hospital Düsseldorf, Centre for Education and Professional Development in Healthcare, Düsseldorf, Germany.
authors.forename: Matthias
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Grünewald
authors.affiliation: Heinrich-Heine-University, Medical Faculty, Interdisciplinary Centre for Palliative Medicine, Düsseldorf, Germany ; Heinrich-Heine-University, Medical Faculty, Clinic of Anaesthesiology, Düsseldorf, Germany.
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Schmitz
mesh_terms: D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D003479:Curriculum; D004504:Education, Medical, Undergraduate / Q000458:organization & administration*; D005180:Faculty, Medical; D005858:Germany; D033183:Interdisciplinary Communication; D000070516:Intersectoral Collaboration; D008007:Licensure, Medical; D010166:Palliative Care; D016544:Patient Simulation; D010819:Physician's Role; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations
keywords: QB13; attitude towards palliative care; cross-disciplinary subject; e-learning, group sessions for self-development and self-reflection; interprofessional education; palliative care curriculum; virtual simulated/standardised patient contact