Cancer palliative Education Network (Cancer PEN)

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The goal of the Cancer Palliative Education Network (CancerPEN) is to create opportunities for a practice relevant, problem-based virtual learning network specifically tailored towards interdisciplinary clinicians caring for patients at the end-of-life. The project will develop an interdisciplinary, web-based palliative care course to be used by (a) medical students and physicians-in-training at the Stanford University School of Medicine, and (b) clinicians (physicians, nurses and social workers) working in Stanford University, VA facilities and Medicare-certified community hospices in California, Nevada and Hawaii. The overall objectives of the palliative care curriculum is for learners to develop an understanding of the scientific principles of palliative care as well as learn strategies to palliate common and distressing symptoms often seen in patients with advanced cancer. Areas of special curricular focus include (a) cultural differences in attitudes toward death and dying, (b) provision of culturally sensitive and competent care and (c) assessment and palliation of common and distressing psychological symptoms seen in cancer patients at the end of life. We shall augment the core web-based material with links to clips of digitized video, relevant external web sites, and additional learning resources. We shall facilitate access through an Internet portal, which will serve dual purposes of (a) providing ongoing learner support (through web boards, downloadable job aids and other educational resources) as well as (b) a marketing tool for the web-based curriculum. We shall develop practice and evaluation tests and maintain them online. We will study the usability and effectiveness of the CancerPEN curriculum via automated analysis of individual learner movement through the curricular modules and through semi-structured online surveys. Automatic analysis of the CancerPEN portal activity will be done via a browser-based interface with the goal of improving the effectiveness of the portal. We shall develop and evaluate mechanisms to disseminate the web-based content to palliative care clinicians at VA facilities, community hospice facilities and interested medical schools throughout the country. Finally, we shall incorporate the CancerPEN into the Stanford Medical Digital Curriculum and update it regularly along with the other Stanford curricula.