A systematic review of end of life care communication skills training for generalist palliative care providers: research quality and reporting guidance

This systematic review appraises how end of life care communication skills training for generalist palliative care providers, including GPs, are developed, delivered, evaluated and reported. The review covered ten databases and five relevant journals which identified 170 reports covering 153 training interventions. Of the papers published the majority were only categorized as medium quality with only 41 being considered high quality. Key information about training duration and participant flow was poorly reported. Overall the reporting about end of life care communication skills was poorly reported and lacked vigorous research methodologies, less than 15% involved randomised participants. To improve this area of research the authors created a CONSORT statement supplement to help improve future reporting and to encourage more robust research design.   Read the full article here.