Advance Care Planning among Medical Students: Perceptions, Practices, and Associated factors

Abstract

Background : Understanding how medical students perceive the nature of death and how they put this concept into practice is important in the development of palliative care and advance care plan (ACP) within the medical curriculum to improve the quality of patient-centered medical service.

Objective : to study attitudes and behaviors regarding advance planning for end-of-life care among medical students at Phramongkutklao College of Medicine (PCM), including related factors.

Method : A mixed research model was used with quantitative data collection and interviews to collect qualitative data. The sample group consisted of first-to-sixth-year medical students.

Result : It was found that the volunteers had an attitude that agreed with the word good death according to the definition that the researcher had compiled, and had an attitude that agreed with the view that death is a natural thing. Meanwhile, other views on death are more polarizing. The lower academic performance group (GPAX lower than 3.50) was significantly more likely to view death as an escape acceptance compared to those with higher grades (GPAX 3.50 and above) (p<0.01). Qualitative data from interviews with 12 volunteers of mixed years revealed that educational levels and academic performances may affect views on death. Almost all volunteers had not yet prepared a written plan for their end-of-life care, even though it was considered important.

Conclusion and discussion : From the result that educational levels and academic performances may affect views on death, further studies should be conducted that focus on the psychosocial factors of medical students to help plan teaching about advance care planning in the medical education curriculum to be more appropriate for students