Palliative care education: establishing the evidence base

This chapter aims to identify the need for evaluation of palliative care education, and discusses how evaluation of palliative care education has developed in meeting the demands of stakeholders for evidence-based practice. Palliative care education is delivered by a range of providers in a variety of settings, from higher education institutions and specialist palliative care services within hospital and community settings to uni- and multi-professional audiences. The provision of palliative care is evolving. While developing outside the mainstream of healthcare provision, often in charitable organisations, palliative care is re-emerging as an integrated part of mainstream healthcare 1996; influenced by healthcare policy. Specialist palliative services have faced demands from a range of external and internal stakeholders to demonstrate the effectiveness of the specialty through evaluation of aspects of patient care, service organisation, service delivery and policy, as well as educational provision.