Introduction:

Palliative care (PC) consists of multidisciplinary and holistic assistance to the patient to improve their quality of life and that of their relatives, through the prevention and relief of illnesses, seeking to soften their physical, social, psychological and spiritual aspects. There is an outstanding and growing need for PC, given that, with an aging population and increased prevalence of chronic non-communicable diseases, millions of people require PC every year, and only 14% of those people actually receive such services care until the end of life.

Objective:

To gauge the knowledge of medical graduates in 2020 from a Higher Education Institution in the state of Goiás about PC.

Method:

This work was conducted through a descriptive, transversal and quantitative study, using the validated questionnaire “General Questionnaire on Palliative Care - QGCP”, containing adaptations and objective questions, performed online. The sample universe consisted of 74 graduates. Participation was voluntary and, exclusively for scientific purposes, in line with the ethical recommendations for anonymity and confidentiality.

Results:

It was found that the majority of the participants considered PC to be “important” or “very important”, although only a minority were interested in undergoing specific training in this area in their clinical practice. Furthermore, although only one question in the questionnaire was answered incorrectly more than 50% of the time, inferring that the participants demonstrate a certain knowledge in PC, 86.5% (n=64) of the participants did not consider their knowledge about PC as “appropriate” or “very appropriate”.

Conclusion:

The results reveal that although academics recognize the importance of PC, a lack of knowledge about the underlying philosophy and principles, as well as insecurity regarding the conducts to be prescribed, highlight the need for permanent education on the subject. These findings corroborate national and international studies, which affirm the need to disseminate knowledge about the philosophy and principles of PC.

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