Hospice educators’ perspectives on e-learning in palliative care education in Ireland

Background: Knowledge of and understanding the palliative care approach should be a core competency in all healthcare settings. E-learning offers the potential to deliver palliative care education and meet this challenge. Aim: To examine hospice educator’s perspectives of e-learning in palliative care education. Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with a purposeful sample of hospice educators on the island of Ireland (Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland). These were transcribed and the data was analysed thematically. Findings: Many factors were considered when using e-learning: objectives of the programme, learner’s characteristics, topic suitability (as palliative care is very emotive) and organisational factors. Barriers to using e-learnning were the preparation time required and developing expertise in e-learning. Support mechanisms for hospice educators to share knowledge would be beneficial. Conclusions: Educators were keen to adopt a blended approach in their teaching. While acknowledging the challenges and limitations of e-learning, educators felt that e-learning has a positive role in palliative care education.