Under-taught : the continuing education needs of non-palliative medical social workers in Singapore

Singapore is facing an aging population, and majority of end-of-life patients are not seen in palliative care settings. Non-palliative medical social workers – medical social workers not in the palliative care team and not specifically trained in palliative care – are hence expected to provide palli...

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Main Author: Ng, Qi Juan
Other Authors: Ho Hau Yan Andy
Format: Final Year Project
Language:English
Published: Nanyang Technological University 2020
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10356/141795
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Institution: Nanyang Technological University
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spelling sg-ntu-dr.10356-1417952020-06-11T00:33:49Z Under-taught : the continuing education needs of non-palliative medical social workers in Singapore Ng, Qi Juan Ho Hau Yan Andy School of Social Sciences andyhyho@ntu.edu.sg Social sciences::Psychology Singapore is facing an aging population, and majority of end-of-life patients are not seen in palliative care settings. Non-palliative medical social workers – medical social workers not in the palliative care team and not specifically trained in palliative care – are hence expected to provide palliative and end-of-life care in their practice. With the lack of specialized training, these medical social workers often feel ill-equipped to provide such care. Therefore, the aim of this study is to examine the continuing education needs of non-palliative medical social workers in Singapore and identify gaps in current training provisions, so as to enhance the local education and training framework. Through in-depth semi-structured interviews, the training needs of five non-palliative medical social workers were explored. Using a grounded theory approach to data analysis, eight themes in two categories were revealed. The first category of ‘Learning Methods’ comprises 1) Vocational Experience, 2) Other Professionals, and 3) Experiential Learning, while the second category of ‘Competencies’ consists of 4) Death and the Self, 5) Resources and Processes, 6) Care and Coping, 7) Patient-Family Profiles, and 8) Interdisciplinary Understanding. These findings highlight the need to update the local medical social worker competency framework and to develop new continuing education programs for non-palliative medical social workers. Keywords: non-palliative medical social workers, palliative and end-of-life care, continuing education, training  Bachelor of Arts in Psychology 2020-06-11T00:33:49Z 2020-06-11T00:33:49Z 2020 Final Year Project (FYP) https://hdl.handle.net/10356/141795 en application/pdf Nanyang Technological University
institution Nanyang Technological University
building NTU Library
country Singapore
collection DR-NTU
language English
topic Social sciences::Psychology
spellingShingle Social sciences::Psychology
Ng, Qi Juan
Under-taught : the continuing education needs of non-palliative medical social workers in Singapore
description Singapore is facing an aging population, and majority of end-of-life patients are not seen in palliative care settings. Non-palliative medical social workers – medical social workers not in the palliative care team and not specifically trained in palliative care – are hence expected to provide palliative and end-of-life care in their practice. With the lack of specialized training, these medical social workers often feel ill-equipped to provide such care. Therefore, the aim of this study is to examine the continuing education needs of non-palliative medical social workers in Singapore and identify gaps in current training provisions, so as to enhance the local education and training framework. Through in-depth semi-structured interviews, the training needs of five non-palliative medical social workers were explored. Using a grounded theory approach to data analysis, eight themes in two categories were revealed. The first category of ‘Learning Methods’ comprises 1) Vocational Experience, 2) Other Professionals, and 3) Experiential Learning, while the second category of ‘Competencies’ consists of 4) Death and the Self, 5) Resources and Processes, 6) Care and Coping, 7) Patient-Family Profiles, and 8) Interdisciplinary Understanding. These findings highlight the need to update the local medical social worker competency framework and to develop new continuing education programs for non-palliative medical social workers. Keywords: non-palliative medical social workers, palliative and end-of-life care, continuing education, training 
author2 Ho Hau Yan Andy
author_facet Ho Hau Yan Andy
Ng, Qi Juan
format Final Year Project
author Ng, Qi Juan
author_sort Ng, Qi Juan
title Under-taught : the continuing education needs of non-palliative medical social workers in Singapore
title_short Under-taught : the continuing education needs of non-palliative medical social workers in Singapore
title_full Under-taught : the continuing education needs of non-palliative medical social workers in Singapore
title_fullStr Under-taught : the continuing education needs of non-palliative medical social workers in Singapore
title_full_unstemmed Under-taught : the continuing education needs of non-palliative medical social workers in Singapore
title_sort under-taught : the continuing education needs of non-palliative medical social workers in singapore
publisher Nanyang Technological University
publishDate 2020
url https://hdl.handle.net/10356/141795
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