Assessment of palliative care knowledge among medical students and factors affecting it: A cross-sectional study, 2021

Background: In Saudi Arabia the number of palliative care PC experts is relatively low, so most PC work is done by doctors who have recently graduated. Moreover, PC is not a mandatory course in medical school but can be taken as an elective. Method: This cross-sectional, web-based survey used a modified questionnaire to measure self-reported PC knowledge. A total of 266 medical students at Umm Alquara University (males: 160, 60.2%) participated. Of the participants, 166 (62.4%) were sixth-year students, 86 (32.3%) were in their internship year, and 14 (5.3%) were one-year post-graduate physicians. Result: Most of the participants (124, 46.6%) reported a self-assessed poor level of PC knowledge. However, interest in the oncology specialty as future career or attending an educational course about PC affected students' knowledge. Conclusions: Half of the undergraduate medical students expressed an interest in learning about PC which can be part of the curriculum.