Impact of a Palliative Care Rotation on Level of Knowledge and Attitudes about the End of Life in Undergraduate Medical Students in Latin America

Background: Education about palliative care (PC) is needed at all levels of medical professional development. There is limited literature in Latin America to describe medical students’ level of knowledge about PC and attitudes about the end of life. We assessed the impact of medical student participation in a PC elective rotation during their training. Methods: In an observational and cross-sectional study, fifth-year medical students from a public university in Peru completed validated tools in Spanish, including the Palliative Care Knowledge Test questionnaire and the Collett–Lester Fear of Death Scale (score range 1–5). Results were summarized using descriptive statistics and bivariate analysis. Results: A total of 128 students participated (corresponding to a response rate of 78%); 81 were male (63.3%) and 47 were female (36.7%); 98 (76.6%) were aged 25 or younger; and 29 (22.7%) had participated in the PC rotation. Knowledge levels about PC were high in 110 participants (85.9%) and intermediate in 18 (14.1%). Knowledge levels were higher among those who participated in the PC rotation ( p = 0.011). The mean score for fear of death was 3.19 (SD 0.87), and those who participated in the PC rotation had a higher mean of fear of death (3.48) than those who did not (3.10; p = 0.037), especially in the category of their “own dying process” ( p = 0.016). Conclusions: Knowledge about PC was higher among medical students who participated in a PC rotation. These students also had a higher fear of death. More research is warranted to address different factors affecting students’ attitudes about death and end-of-life care.