Kripalani Simran, Joy Sandra, Raizada Shivani, Cerceo Elizabeth
Cooper Medical School of Rowan University, Camden, NJ, 18103, USA.
Rowan University, Glassboro, New Jersey, 08028, USA.
MedEdPublish (2016). 2022 Nov 21;12:44. doi: 10.12688/mep.19140.4. eCollection 2022.
: Despite the inevitable nature of death and dying, the conversations surrounding this subject are still uncomfortable for many physicians and medical students. : A six-week humanities-based course, "A Biopsychosocial Approach to Death, Dying, & Bereavement," at Cooper Medical School of Rowan University, United States, which covers definitions of death and dying, the process of dying, ethical dilemmas, and new concepts of the grieving process. Through development of a curriculum using various academic and medical literature and resources, we sought to bring attention to the necessity of having a medical education curriculum on death and dying to prepare medical students for the difficult conversations and patient experiences that lie ahead of them. Qualitative data in the form of surveys and reflection papers submitted by students and quantitative data (Likert scores on course satisfaction) were collected and analyzed both pre- and post-course. : 90.7% (49/54) of the respondents answered that they agree or strongly agree with the statement that this selective course was useful in the student's medical education experience. The top three qualitative themes brought up the most in reflection papers (n=54) were: the utility and instruction of the course (21 times), the importance of hospice and palliative care (20 times), avoidance around topics of death (15 times). Medical students are often not prepared to cope with the realities of patient loss and of caring for the patient and their families throughout the dying process. We created this course to familiarize medical students with an aspect of the medical experience that is frequently neglected in traditional medical curricula. We learned that integrating such a course can help educate medical students facilitate important conversations, teach them to act with kindness and dignity in a physician-patient setting, and enhance their personal understanding of death and dying.
尽管死亡和临终是不可避免的，但围绕这个话题的对话对许多医生和医学生来说仍然令人感到不适。美国罗文大学库珀医学院开设了一门为期六周的以人文学科为基础的课程“死亡、临终与丧亲之痛的生物心理社会方法”，该课程涵盖死亡和临终的定义、临终过程、伦理困境以及悲伤过程的新概念。通过利用各种学术和医学文献及资源开发课程，我们试图让人们关注有必要开设一门关于死亡和临终的医学教育课程，以便让医学生为他们即将面临的艰难对话和患者经历做好准备。收集并分析了学生提交的调查问卷和反思论文形式的定性数据以及定量数据（课程满意度的李克特评分），分别在课程前后进行。90.7%（49/54）的受访者回答说，他们同意或强烈同意这门选修课程对学生的医学教育经历有用这一说法。反思论文（n = 54）中提及最多的前三个定性主题是：课程的实用性和指导性（21次）、临终关怀和姑息治疗的重要性（20次）、对死亡话题的回避（15次）。医学生往往没有做好应对患者死亡现实以及在整个临终过程中照顾患者及其家属的准备。我们开设这门课程是为了让医学生熟悉传统医学课程中经常被忽视的医学经历的一个方面。我们了解到，整合这样一门课程有助于教育医学生促成重要的对话，教导他们在医患环境中以善良和尊严行事，并增强他们对死亡和临终的个人理解。
