Browsing by Subject "dying"

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
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    Experiences of Female and Male Medical Students With Death, Dying, and Palliative Care: One Size Does Not Fit All
    (Sage, 2018-06) Hoffman, Leslie A.; Mehta, Rakesh; Vu, T. Robert; Frankel, Richard M.; Anatomy and Cell Biology, School of Medicine
    Background: Medical students learn about death, dying, and palliative care (DDPC) through formal curricular offerings and informal clinical experiences; however, the lessons learned in the clinic may be at odds with the formal curriculum. Reflective writing is a means for students to “bracket” their DDPC experiences and reconcile conflicts between the formal and informal curriculum. Objectives: The aim of this study is to compare the level of reflection demonstrated in medical students’ narratives on DDPC with other experiences and to examine the domains of professionalism that students perceive to be prevalent in their DDPC experiences. Methods: Third-year medical students submitted professionalism narratives during their internal medicine clerkship. We identified a subset of narratives related to DDPC (n = 388) and randomly selected control narratives (n = 153). We assessed the level of reflection demonstrated in the narratives using a validated rubric and analyzed the professionalism domains that students identified as relevant to their experience. Results: There was no difference in reflective level between DDPC and control narratives. Within the DDPC group, female students demonstrated higher reflection (2.24 ± 0.71) than male students (2.01 ± 0.77; P < .001). Caring, compassion and communication, and honor and integrity were prominent among DDPC narratives. More females identified caring, compassion, and communication as relevant to their DDPC experiences, whereas more males identified altruism. Conclusion: Males and females have different perceptions of DDPC experiences, and female students appear to be more deeply impacted. These findings can help clinical faculty engage students more effectively with this challenging topic.
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    Means to a better end: a report on dying in America today
    (2002-11) Last Acts (Organization)
    Report on end-of-life issues, with facts and statistical data. End-of-life issues include advance directives, dying, hospices, pain management, and palliative care.
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    Social Work Should Be More Proactive in Addressing the Need to Plan for End of Life
    (Oxford, 2016-11) Johnson, Kimberly J.; Hong, Michin; Inoue, Megumi; Adamek, Margaret E.; School of Social Work
    Few people engage in planning for life’s end and the prevalence of preparedness is particularly low in ethnic communities. As a profession, social work is well equipped to help increase planning for life’s end and the care people wish to receive. However, the profession cannot simply defer to those in hospice and palliative care settings to address this issue. There is a need for earlier and equitable access to death preparation, and social workers can be instrumental in helping to insure equal opportunities for proactive planning for death. The ways social work may become more proactive in assisting individuals and families to prepare for the end-of-life are discussed.