Abstract
Palliative care can be an important addition to the interprofessional team for patients who need assistance with symptom management and advanced care planning. Research has shown that palliative care referrals increase quality of life, improve symptom management, help initiate conversations about end of life, and assist with making healthcare decisions. However, palliative care referrals are often not made in the primary care setting (Center to Advance Palliative Care, 2014). The purpose of this scholarly project was to develop and evaluate a community-based educational program designed to increase knowledge of palliative care services in a rural Midwestern community. The goal was that patients and family members would feel more empowered to initiate a conversation regarding palliative care services with healthcare providers when needed. This may increase palliative care referrals for patients in the primary care setting by way of patient and family initiated conversations. This was accomplished through the following aims: conducting a needs assessment in a community, completing a focus group with community members in order to gain insight into their educational needs, educating community members in a small group setting on palliative care, measuring a change in participant beliefs using a pre and post-survey, and assessing participants' likelihood to initiate a conversation with their provider after the educational program.