A Humanities Curriculum for Preparing Medical Students to Work With Dying Patients

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Humanities in Medicine
• End-of-Life Care Education

Background:

• Medical education struggles to effectively teach death and dying topics.
• The humanities offer engaging methods through emotion, narrative, and perspective-taking.
• A novel curriculum utilized humanities to address end-of-life care education needs.

Purpose of the Study:

• To implement and evaluate a humanities-based elective for end-of-life skills.
• To assess second-year medical student responses to the curriculum for replicability.

Main Methods:

• Curriculum designed based on needs assessment and humanities education expertise.
• Students (n=42) completed post-session and cumulative surveys (Likert-scale, free-text).
• Analysis included descriptive statistics and qualitative analysis of written responses.

Main Results:

• Students found materials and discussions valuable for professional development, comfort, confidence, and anxiety management.
• Outcomes included enhanced end-of-life knowledge, comfort, emotional responses, self-reflection, and practical skills.
• Diverse materials and safe, peer-led discussions fostered learning and professional growth.

Conclusions:

• A humanities-based curriculum is suitable for educating preclinical medical students on end-of-life care.
• This approach enhances medical learners' preparedness and emotional intelligence in managing end-of-life situations.