Nurturing humanism through teaching palliative care

After many years of neglect by the medical establishment, the discipline of palliative medicine is finally moving into academic health centers (AHCs). While hospice programs have cared for dying patients in the community for years with little input from mainstream medicine, palliative care is gaining a foothold in AHCs, challenging these centers to integrate the hospice approach with biomedicine. The discipline of palliative care promises to be a rich source of learning and growth for physicians-in-training. Teaching about palliative care affirms two essential but vulnerable dimensions of the practice of medicine--the importance of relationship-centered care and the value of doctoring as a source of meaning and growth for physicians. In addition to fostering fundamental humanistic learning, palliative medicine is an excellent vehicle for teaching basic but often neglected clinical competencies, including pain and symptom control, communication, and working as part of a health care team. Because palliative care settings offer extraordinary learning opportunities, the authors recommend that clinical experiences in palliative care be integrated into the core curricula of all medical schools as well as appropriate residency programs.