Preregistration nursing students' experiences of a palliative care course in a resource-poor setting

BACKGROUND: Palliative care education for non-specialist health professionals is an important strategy for widening access to palliative care. AIM: To describe Cameroonian nursing students' experiences and perceptions of the strengths and weaknesses of a palliative care course, with a view to refining the course. METHODS: Three focus groups were conducted with 23 students, and data were analysed thematically using the framework approach. RESULTS: The students reported connecting with their past personal and professional experiences in the care of patients with palliative care needs during the course. The main course strength reported was its use of a variety of interactive educational strategies, such as role plays, group discussions and case studies. The course's main reported weakness was the lack of supervised clinical practice in palliative care. CONCLUSION: The use of a variety of interactive educational strategies-including supervised clinical practice-is considered by nursing students as vital to enhancing learning in palliative care education. However, the lack of supervised palliative care clinical practice opportunities is a challenge in Cameroon.