Journal of palliative medicine
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Health professionals have begun to identify competencies needed for primary and specialist levels of palliative care practice, but little attention has been given to how these skills are acquired. ⋯ A representative sample of social workers practicing in health care identify high competence in essential aspects of palliative care. This speaks to an existing pool of clinicians who, if practicing to the top of their licenses, have the potential to provide primary palliative care and contribute to the person-family centered care called for in the Institute of Medicine (IOM) report. Few programs exist to prepare social workers to work as specialists in palliative or end-of-life settings, and respondents identified key areas of practice that need to be integrated into graduate education to ensure that students, practitioners, and educators are better prepared to maximize the impact of health social work. Further research is needed to better understand how to prepare and train specialist-level palliative care social workers.