The humanities in palliative medicine training: perspectives of academic palliative medicine physicians and trainees

The humanities can aid in the development of important skills for trainee physicians. Because of the nature of their work, palliative medicine residents are expected to apply humanities-based skills frequently in their clinical work and are also likely to use humanities-based skills to support their own self-care. Our project explored the role of the humanities in palliative medicine residency programs across Canada.

Each priority topic or objective of the current palliative medicine residency training standards in Canada was reviewed to determine whether they relate to the humanities. A cross-sectional survey was subsequently created using Qualtrics, with the target study population being current palliative medicine residents and palliative medicine staff physicians at academic centers in Canada.

Multiple humanities objectives exist in Canadian palliative medicine training standards, primarily in the ethical, cultural, and spiritual domains. Eighty-seven people completed the cross-sectional survey, for a 17.4% response rate and 94.6% completion rate. The vast majority (90%) of survey participants felt that the humanities had an important role in medical training at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels, and more than 70% of participants felt that the humanities had an important role in palliative medicine residency training. In some areas, the humanities participants felt that their programs would most benefit from ethics, philosophy, and culture. Over 65% agreed or strongly agreed that their own palliative medicine program would benefit from more humanities content.

Canadian palliative medicine training standards require residents to demonstrate humanities-based skills. Most survey participants state that the humanities have an important role in medical training at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels, and that their own palliative medicine residency program would benefit from more humanities content. These results may guide future studies to better understand why and how more humanities content can be added to palliative medicine residency programs to optimize residents' learning experiences and better prepare them for careers in palliative medicine.