63

By 2030, the number of people in Switzerland aged sixty-five and over is expected to increase by 66 percent to more than two million, with a higher rise for those over eighty. This evolution means that palliative care within medical and social institutions needs to be developed in order to support the quality of life of very elderly, very dependent, and multimorbid patients. To enable institutions to respond to this evolution, all employees must be trained in the palliative care approach. In this context, the Geneva School of Health Sciences is regularly mandated to offer training programs. Interested in investigating the quality and effectiveness of the training provided, we have developed the systematic use of a method for evaluating the impact of these changes on professional practices. This system makes it possible to objectify not only the quality of training but also the changes in daily practices post-training. Using an example, we will show that beyond simply responding to the need for training, our evaluation method highlights the advantages of interprofessional training in palliative care.