Palliative care: the perception of medical students at the beginning and end of graduation

Abstract

Objective: To identify the knowledge about palliative care among students of the first and twelfth periods of the Medicine course at a private college in the interior of the State of Minas Gerais. Methods: This is a quantitative and qualitative research, carried out through a questionnaire applied to medical students in a higher education institution. Results: 50 students participated in this research, 41 referring to the first and 9 to the twelfth periods of the medical course. The research carried out showed that 85.3% of students in the first period and 55.5% of the twelfth period do not know the difference between the different possibilities of offering palliative care, demonstrating the need for a greater approach to the subject throughout graduation. Conclusion: Thus, this work demonstrates that despite being a topic present in the routines of health professionals, it is still little discussed throughout academic training, since the academics themselves lack adherence to address the topic.