Academic Journal
A Humanities Curriculum for Preparing Medical Students to Work With Dying Patients.
| Τίτλος: | A Humanities Curriculum for Preparing Medical Students to Work With Dying Patients. |
|---|---|
| Συγγραφείς: | Jenkins R; Department of Anesthesiology (R.J.), The Ohio State University College of Medicine, Columbus, Ohio, USA., McCormick SE; Department of Bioethics (S.E.M., E.G.L.), Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Cleveland, Ohio, USA., Lamb EG; Department of Bioethics (S.E.M., E.G.L.), Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Cleveland, Ohio, USA. Electronic address: egl36@case.edu. |
| Πηγή: | Journal of pain and symptom management [J Pain Symptom Manage] 2026 Aug; Vol. 72 (2), pp. 194-209. Date of Electronic Publication: 2026 May 05. |
| Τύπος έκδοσης: | Journal Article |
| Γλώσσα: | English |
| Στοιχεία περιοδικού: | Publisher: Elsevier Country of Publication: United States NLM ID: 8605836 Publication Model: Print-Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1873-6513 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 08853924 NLM ISO Abbreviation: J Pain Symptom Manage Subsets: MEDLINE |
| Imprint Name(s): | Publication: New York, NY : Elsevier Original Publication: [Madison, WI : Dept. of Anesthesiology, University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1986- |
| Ιατρικοί όροι (MeSH): | Humanities*/education , Students, Medical*/psychology , Education, Medical, Undergraduate*/methods , Curriculum* , Terminal Care*, Humans ; Attitude to Death |
| Περίληψη: | Context: Medical education literature lacks consensus on how to deliver and measure the efficacy of material about death and dying, a topic medical student learners identify as needing improvement. The humanities offer promising methodologies to address this need as they engage learners via emotion, narrative, and perspective-taking. As part of a research project evaluating using the humanities to teach end-of-life care, we designed a curriculum centered on small-group discussions of preassigned readings. Objectives: To detail the implementation of and evaluate student responses to a novel humanities-based elective teaching end-of-life skills to second-year medical students in the interest of broader replicability. Methods: The authors planned the curriculum based on a needs assessment and their professional experience in humanities education. Students (n = 42) completed surveys after each session and cumulatively including Likert-scale and free-text items measuring responses to the materials and pedagogy. This analysis includes descriptive statistics and a formal qualitative analysis of written responses. Results: Students overwhelmingly evaluated materials and discussions as valuable for their professional development and comfort, confidence, and anxiety about working with dying patients. Qualitatively, student-identified outcomes included increased knowledge about and comfort with end-of-life care, strong emotional reactions, opportunities for self-reflection, improved emotional understanding, practical skills, and envisioned value for future careers. Course materials contributed to these outcomes through their diversity in type and perspective, and course discussions created a safe space where students could direct the conversation and learn from peers. Conclusion: A humanities-based curriculum can be well-suited to educating preclinical medical students about end-of-life care. (Copyright © 2026 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.) |
| Competing Interests: | Disclosures and Acknowledgments The authors declare no conflicts of interest. The authors wish to thank Noam Stern for his contributions to the project. This work was supported by the Association of American Medical Colleges’ Fundamental Role of Arts and Humanities in Medical Education initiative and The National Endowment for the Humanities: Democracy demands wisdom [Grant RES236743]. These institutions had no involvement in the study design, data collection and analysis, manuscript writing, or publication of this work. |
| Contributed Indexing: | Keywords: Humanities; curriculum evaluation; end-of-life care; undergraduate medical education |
| Entry Date(s): | Date Created: 20260507 Date Completed: 20260701 Latest Revision: 20260702 |
| Update Code: | 20260702 |
| DOI: | 10.1016/j.jpainsymman.2026.04.621 |
| PMID: | 42097189 |
| Βάση Δεδομένων: | MEDLINE |
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