Palliative Care education in undergraduate pharmacy curricula in Brazil: a descriptive cross-sectional study.

Abstract

Background: Palliative Care is essential for improving the quality of life of individuals with life-threatening conditions. Despite its growing relevance, the education of health professionals in this field remains insufficient. In Brazil, the implementation of the National Policy for Palliative Care reinforces the need to qualify the health workforce. In this context, the present study aimed to analyze the availability of Palliative Care courses in undergraduate Pharmacy programs in Brazil, as well as to characterize their content.

Methods: This is a cross-sectional, descriptive, documentary analysis study, based on data identifying active Pharmacy programs in Brazil as of April 2025. Higher Education Institutions with recognized programs were included, while duplicate, incomplete, or discontinued records were excluded. Data collection was carried out between April and December 2025 by two independent researchers through the analysis of Curricular Matrices and Pedagogical Course Projects available on institutional websites. The variables analyzed included type of institution, geographic location, and course characteristics, and were described using descriptive statistics.

Results: A total of 608 Higher Education Institutions were identified, most of them private and located in the Southeast and Northeast regions. A total of 530 curricular documents were available for analysis, and Palliative Care courses were identified in only four institutions (0.75%), being mandatory in only one. The courses varied in workload, objectives, and content. The content was grouped into the following categories: Humanization and Spirituality, Pharmacist's Role, Multidisciplinary Care Management, and Introduction to Palliative Care.

Conclusions: This study highlights the limited availability of Palliative Care education in undergraduate Pharmacy programs in Brazil, showing that only four institutions offer such courses. Given the increasing life expectancy and the consequent rise in chronic disease-related suffering in the coming years, it is both necessary and timely for health professionals to receive basic training in this field. Therefore, expanding the availability of Palliative Care courses in undergraduate health programs in Brazil is essential to better prepare future multidisciplinary teams, in addition to the need to provide education that reflects the Brazilian context.