Feelings about palliative care by medical residents: Investigation in a clinical internship

Objectives and context. - While different healthcare professionals are trying to develop the dissemination of the practice and philosophy of palliative care, we wondered about the representations of palliative care among medical interns who received classroom instruction on this subject. What are their representations before and after clinical experience? Methodology. - This qualitative study involved 26 X 2 semi-structured interviews conducted at the beginning and the end of the semester. These recorded and transcribed interviews were analysed with the Sonal software. Results. - We observed significant differences between the two interviews. In the second interview, the medical residents approach was closer to the design of palliative care as defined by the WHO. Discussion and conclusion. - The experience obtained during the clinical training improves the understanding and the approach of the palliative care management. (C) 2015 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.