Integrating Palliative Medicine into Medical Education: Creating a More Compassionate Generation of Physicians

How should Palliative Medicine competencies be taught to medical students? In the United States and other countries, there is a consensus that teaching Palliative Medicine competencies to medical students is essential. Health agencies have also identified teaching Palliative Medicine competencies as crucial. According to Sanchez-Reilly and Ross, medical students reported that they feel better prepared to care for the elderly, patients with severe illness, and dying patients after completing formal training. The authors hypothesized that a one-week rotation with Palliative Medicine during the Medicine Clerkship would improve the medical students’ skills to care for these populations of patients. The one-week inpatient rotation was designed to equip all fifty medical students at Mayo Medical School with a knowledge base of Palliative Care, communication skills, care for elderly frail and dying patients, and basic pain management for patients with severe illness. Each of the fifty students rotated with a Palliative Care consulting team with patient interaction, lectures, online teaching, and interdisciplinary team activities. Hands-on learning proved more effective than using just the classroom teaching classical model, with 70% of students responding positively to the hands-on approach. Learning how to apply Palliative Care skills while visiting patients with complex diseases, showed to be better received as an education module. Out of the fifty medical students surveyed, thirty-five responded (70%), and all responses were positive. This method of teaching could be expanded to teach other advanced hospice and palliative care skills.