Healing Presence: an Intensive Care Unit Curriculum for Medical Students Based on the Clinical Pastoral Education...

In the United States, approximately 90% of the population believes in God or a higher power. Spirituality is integral to decision-making for some patients, and when spiritual needs are met, healthcare costs may be reduced. At the University of Michigan Medical School, we observed a paucity of education in spiritual care. We developed an elective to engage medical students in reflecting on spirituality in the care of critically ill patients and their own experiences and evaluated the impact of this educational model.

Senior medical students shadowed chaplains and participated in reflection sessions with chaplain-led peer groups. A retrospective pre-post survey was collected from students to assess the impact of the elective.

Seventy-eight students participated in the elective between 2017 and 2020. After the elective, students reported increases in how much they value finding personal meaning in patient care (88%- 100%) and responding to patients' spiritual concerns (53%-94%). Review of narrative feedback revealed that the elective fostered a more inclusive understanding of spirituality, heightened recognition of spiritual care as an essential yet often overlooked aspect of care, increased awareness and empowerment to use available resources, and meaningful personal and professional growth within a safe, reflective space.

The elective shifted student perception on the importance of the role of spirituality in medicine. Educational initiatives such as this help address a need within undergraduate medical education and can serve as a platform for integrating spirituality and interprofessional education and collaboration into medical training.