Teaching Palliative Care in the University of Cambridge School of Clinical Medicine is closely intertwined with the research of our group. This direct link with the latest research contributes to the outstanding quality of our teaching.
The General Medical Council has described our palliative care teaching as a “national exemplar of excellence”.
Undergraduate Medical Education
We seek to prepare our medical students for their important role in caring for patients approaching and at the end of their lives as Foundation and Resident Doctors and later in their careers. While a few may subsequently become Palliative Medicine Consultants, most will become Consultants in other specialties or General Practitioners, providing Palliative Care in those settings.
Our teaching is delivered throughout the final three clinical years of the medical course. Half-day seminars take the students through the wide range of issues in a spiral fashion. During year 4, student learning includes ethical issues at the end of life and decisions about cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Year 5 includes sessions on symptom control, bereavement, psychological issues and care after death. The focus of year 6 is preparing students to provide care close to the end of life, with a practical focus on advanced communication skills and prescribing.
UK Association for Palliative Medicine Special Interest Forum for Undergraduate Medical Education
Professor Stephen Barclay is co-chair, together with Professor John Ellershaw (Liverpool), of the UK Association for Palliative Medicine Special Interest Forum for Undergraduate Medical Education.
For enquiries concerning our undergraduate education, please contact our Teaching Coordinator, Alice Cuttriss.
Postgraduate Medical Education and PhD Supervision
We continue to develop a successful integrated academic training programme. Integrated academic trainees are doctors training to become GPs or Consultants in Palliative Medicine who have protected time for research during their clinical training. Our Academic Clinical Fellows undertake predoctoral research, and several previous post-holders have gone on to pursue PhD research. Clinical Lecturers develop a programme of post-doctoral research, working to wards clinical-academic careers.
We welcome applications for PhD students in our research group. Some of our recent PhD students include Prof Dr Erica Borgstrom, Dr Sarah Hoare, and Dr Ben Bowers.
We regularly run education days for GP Trainees in several centres in the East of England. Dr Anna Spathis holds national and international study days on the management of breathlessness.
For enquiries about our postgraduate education, please contact Prof Barclay’s Research PA, Angela Harper.
Teaching team PalliMEG
The teaching team is led by Dr Anna Spathis, Associate Professor of Palliative Care, Professor Stephen Barclay, Professor of Palliative Care, and Dr Simon Noah Etkind, Assistant Professor of Palliative Care. Dr Annabel Price and Dr Robert Brodrick are Associate Specialty Directors and Alice Cuttriss is our Teaching Coordinator. Clinical Teaching Fellows in Palliative Care (doctors in training posts seconded to our teaching team for one day per week for a year) are further members of our core teaching team: currently Dr Ellie Sharp. Colleagues from the PELiCam research team, the broader regional Palliative and End of Life Care community, patient and carers, ethicists, chaplains and professional actors all contribute to teaching sessions.