Enhancing Empathy in Medical Students: Family-Faculty Members Facilitate Patient-Centered Reflection

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Family-Centered Care
• Pediatric Healthcare

Background:

• Undergraduate medical education often lacks comprehensive training in family-centered care.
• Integrating diverse perspectives, such as those of parents, can enrich medical curricula.
• Children with medical complexity present unique challenges and require specialized family-centered approaches.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore the role of parents of children with medical complexity as family-faculty in undergraduate medical education.
• To assess the impact of family-faculty involvement on medical students' understanding and application of family-centered care principles.

Main Methods:

• Structured interviews with family-faculty and medical students.
• Analysis of reflective writing assignments from medical students.
• Facilitation of classroom discussions involving family-faculty.

Main Results:

• Family-faculty participation provided valuable real-world insights into the experiences of families with children with medical complexity.
• Medical students demonstrated increased understanding of family-centered care concepts and their practical application.
• Reflective writing and discussions highlighted enhanced empathy and communication skills among students.

Conclusions:

• Parents of children with medical complexity can effectively serve as family-faculty, significantly contributing to medical education.
• Integrating family-faculty perspectives is a viable strategy to enhance training in family-centered care for medical students.
• This model fosters a more holistic and patient-centered approach in future healthcare professionals.