Palliative care knowledge among Peruvian physicians

Introduction: Palliative Medicine (PM) is a vital branch of medicine that focuses on the relief of symptoms while facing a life-threatening illness. In Peru, PM education is not included in the medical school curriculum and there is currently no fellowship for adequate PM training.Objective: To evaluate Palliative Medicine knowledge among Peruvian graduated physicians who are currently training or practicing in Peru.Methods: An observational, cross sectional and analytical study was conducted in graduated physicians from Peruvian medical schools who have or have not done a residency training and are currently residing and practicing medicine in Peru. Peruvian physicians were provided with an online link to assess their palliative medicine knowledge, primarily utilizing the Palliative Care Knowledge Test Spanish Version (PCKT-SV) which was our primary outcome variable.Results: A total of 120 physicians answered the questionnaire from different parts of Peru. Most of them were male (55.83%) and the range of age was between 25-40 years (81.67%). Regarding knowledge levels about palliative care, we found a higher correct answers for philosophy (83.75%), followed by dyspnea (68.12%). The least proportion of correct answers were present in the dimensions of psychiatry problems (54.58%), pain (56.39%) and gastrointestinal problems (58.33%).Conclusion: Peruvian physicians exhibit a commendable level of knowledge regarding palliative care, but issues arise in the comprehensive management of palliative patients since most of the medical practitioners lack specific expertise in this domain. Furthermore, the deficiency of undergraduate and postgraduate education on the subject is noteworthy.