An interdisciplinary approach to a day-long palliative care course for undergraduate students

ALTHOUGH IT IS DESIRABLE THAT STUDENTS in the health sciences be educated t ogether to prepare them for interdisciplinary practice, many educational pr ograms remain discipline specific. An undergraduate course in palliative ca re, originally designed for medical students at McMaster University, Hamilt on, Ont., was expanded in 1993 to include students from various health scie nces programs in the region. The course introduces students to the componen ts of palliative care and its interdisciplinary nature in a problem-based w ay and directs students to additional educational resources. The authors de scribe the planning, content and evaluation of the course material. The obs erved decline in attendance by medical students, which coincided with the i ntroduction of the interdisciplinary format, warrants further investigation . Future directions of the course are discussed.