Online modules to improve health professionals’ end-of-life law knowledge and confidence: a pre-post survey study

Abstract Background Health professionals and medical students have knowledge gaps about the law that governs end-of-life decision-making. There is a lack of dedicated training on end-of-life law and corresponding research on the impact of this type of training. Objective To examine the impact of online training modules on key concepts of end-of-life law on Australian health professionals’ legal knowledge and their self-reported confidence in applying the law in practice. Methods Online pre- and post-training surveys were completed by training participants. The optional surveys collected demographic data, directly assessed legal knowledge and measured self-reported confidence in applying the law in clinical practice, before and after training. Results Survey response rates were 66% (pre-training) and 12% (post-training). The final sample for analysis (n = 136 participants with matched pre- and post-training surveys), included nurses, doctors, allied health professionals, medical students and a small number of non