Learning about palliative care through research projects: when it is not possible to reform the curriculum

Abstract

Project-based learning is a set of learning tasks based on the resolution of questions and/or problems, involving the learner in the design and planning of learning, in decision-making and in research processes, giving them the opportunity to work relatively autonomously for most of the time, culminating in the realization of a final product presented to others. Case Study. Five third-year students in Medicine decided to Research in the field of Palliative Care (PC), with the obstacle that the curriculum of the institution does not have a subject or rotation of its own in PC. Learning about palliative care through research projects seeks to capture human complexity in order to overcome the gap between the various knowledges that have been atomized at the expense of knowledge fragmentation. The results show that research projects are an alternative that allows the development of higher thinking skills, learning for life and values.