scholarly journals Empathy in Medical Education: Its Nature and Nurture — a Qualitative Study of the Views of Students and Tutors

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
William F Laughey ◽  
Jane Atkinson ◽  
Alison M Craig ◽  
Laura Douglas ◽  
Megan EL Brown ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Medical Education ◽  
Medical School ◽  
Quantitative Research ◽  
Assessment System ◽  
Formal Curriculum ◽  
Arts And Humanities ◽  
Role Modelling ◽  
The Arts ◽  
Negative Role ◽  
The Individual

Abstract Context Medical education is committed to teaching patient centred communication and empathy. However, quantitative research suggests empathy scores tend to decline as students progress through medical school. In qualitative terms, there is a need to better understand how students and tutors view the practice and teaching of clinical empathy and the phenomenon of empathic erosion. Methods Working within a constructivist paradigm, researchers thematically analysed the individual interview data from a purposive sample of 13 senior students and 9 tutors. Results The four major themes were as follows: (1) ‘the nature of empathy’, including the concept of the innate empathy that students already possess at the beginning of medical school; (2) ‘beyond the formal curriculum’ and the central importance of role modelling; (3) ‘the formal curriculum and the tick-box influence of assessments’; and (4) the ‘durability of empathy’, including ethical erosion and resilience. A garden model of empathy development is proposed — beginning with the innate seeds of empathy that students bring to medical school, the flowering of empathy is a fragile process, subject to both enablers and barriers in the formal, informal, and hidden curricula. Conclusion This study provides insights into empathic erosion in medical school, including the problems of negative role modelling and the limitations of an assessment system that rewards ‘tick-box’ representations of empathy, rather than true acts of compassion. It also identifies factors that should enable the flowering of empathy, such as new pedagogical approaches to resilience and a role for the arts and humanities.

scholarly journals A comparison of four models of professionalism in medical education

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 24-31
Author(s):  
Maria Isabel Atienza
Keyword(s):  
Medical Education ◽  
Medical School ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Medical Curriculum ◽  
Medical Professionalism ◽  
Role Modelling ◽  
School Of Medicine ◽  
Curricular Design ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Vanderbilt University

Introduction: The prevailing consensus is that medical professionalism must be formally included as a programme in the undergraduate medical curriculum. Methods: A literature search was conducted to identify institutions that can serve as models for incorporating professionalism in medical education. Differences and similarities were highlighted based on a framework for the comparison which included the following features: definition of professionalism, curricular design, student selection, teaching and learning innovations, role modelling and methods of assessment. Results: Four models for integrating professionalism in medical education were chosen: Vanderbilt University School of Medicine (VUSM), University of Washington School of Medicine (UWSOM), University of Queensland (UQ) School of Medicine, and Mayo Clinic and Mayo Medical School. The task of preparing a programme on medical professionalism requires a well-described definition to set the direction for planning, implementing, and institutionalizing professionalism. The programmes are best woven in all levels of medical education from the pre-clinical to the clinical years. The faculty physicians and the rest of the institution’s staff must also undergo a similar programme for professionalism. Conclusion: The development of all scopes of professionalism requires constant planning, feedback and remediation. The students’ ability to handle professionalism challenges are related to how much learning situations the students encounter during medical school. The learning situations must be adjusted according to the level of responsibilities given to students. The goal of learning is to enable students to grow from a novice to a competent level and afterwards to a proficient and expert level handling professionalism challenges in medicine.

scholarly journals On the arts and humanities in medical education

2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Danielle G. Rabinowitz
Keyword(s):  
Medical Education ◽  
Medical Humanities ◽  
Medical Training ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
The Public ◽  
Arts And Humanities ◽  
The Arts ◽  
Concomitant Reduction ◽  
Flexner Report ◽  
The Cost

AbstractThis paper aims to position the birth of the Medical Humanities movement in a greater historical context of twentieth century American medical education and to paint a picture of the current landscape of the Medical Humanities in medical training. It first sheds light on the model of medical education put forth by Abraham Flexner through the publishing of the 1910 Flexner Report, which set the stage for defining physicians as experimentalists and rooting the profession in research institutions. While this paved the way for medical advancements, it came at the cost of producing a patriarchal approach to medical practice. By the late 1960s, the public persona of the profession was thus devoid of humanism. This catalyzed the birth of the Medical Humanities movement that helped lay the framework for what has perpetuated as the ongoing incorporation of humanistic subjects into medical training. As we enter a time in medicine in which rates of burnout are ever-increasing and there are growing concerns about a concomitant reduction in empathy among trainees, the need for instilling humanism remains important. We must consequently continue to consider how to ensure the place of the Medical Humanities in medical education moving forward.

Why Are the Health Humanities Relevant (and Vital) in Postgraduate Medical Education?

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Skorzewska ◽  
Allan D. Peterkin
Keyword(s):  
Medical Education ◽  
Medical Humanities ◽  
Postgraduate Medical Education ◽  
Health Humanities ◽  
Arts And Humanities ◽  
Current State ◽  
The Arts ◽  
Hands On ◽  
History Of ◽  
Based Medicine

This introductory chapter provides a short history of medical humanities and continues on to give an overview of the limits of medical practice, evidence-based medicine (EBM), successes and failures, curricula, and the current state of medical humanities. The medical and health humanities have become a widespread discipline, with journals, institutes, and associations worldwide. Throughout undergraduate medical education, new courses, electives, programs, and research are proliferating. Yet there is very little officially documented about relevance and efficacy in postgraduate medical education. The chapters that follow provide both a rigorous argument for using the arts and humanities in postgraduate medical education and a practical “how-to” that will guide readers in developing arts and humanities initiatives in their own program or medical school. Each chapter provides ideas, hands-on lesson plans, and resources to pave the way forward.

scholarly journals Can the arts and humanities bring the patient's voice centre stage in medical education?

2021 ◽  
Vol 55 (5) ◽  
pp. 546-548
Author(s):  
William F. Laughey ◽  
Gabrielle M. Finn
Keyword(s):  
Medical Education ◽  
Arts And Humanities ◽  
The Arts

A Letter to Future Physicians: One Dozen Important Things You Might Not Learn Enough about During Medical Training—But Should

2010 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 522-526
Author(s):  
STEVE HEILIG ◽  
PHILIP R. LEE
Keyword(s):  
Medical Education ◽  
Medical School ◽  
Medical Training ◽  
Medical Knowledge ◽  
Formal Curriculum

Medical training is intense by design. Starting with medical school, for 4 years most of the time in the formal curriculum is filled with numerous essential topics, and, as scientific and medical knowledge increases, it is increasingly difficult to “triage” what must be learned. Efforts to insert new topics are often fraught with obstacles and resistance. Thus, it is problematic to suggest that even more be taught in those finite years of formal medical education. However, that is exactly what we propose to do here.

scholarly journals How Are the Arts and Humanities Used in Medical Education? Results of a Scoping Review

2021 ◽  
Vol Publish Ahead of Print ◽  
Author(s):  
Tracy Moniz ◽  
Maryam Golafshani ◽  
Carolyn M. Gaspar ◽  
Nancy E. Adams ◽  
Paul Haidet ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Medical Education ◽  
Scoping Review ◽  
Arts And Humanities ◽  
The Arts

scholarly journals ‘Decolonising the Medical Curriculum‘: Humanising medicine through epistemic pluralism, cultural safety and critical consciousness

2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah H.M. Wong ◽  
Faye Gishen ◽  
Amali U. Lokugamage
Keyword(s):  
Medical Education ◽  
Critical Consciousness ◽  
Medical Curriculum ◽  
Cultural Safety ◽  
Arts And Humanities ◽  
The Arts ◽  
Agents Of Change ◽  
Health Related ◽  
Contemporary Medicine ◽  
Epistemic Pluralism

The Decolonising the Curriculum movement in higher education has been steadily gaining momentum, accelerated by recent global events calling for an appraisal of the intersecting barriers of discrimination that ethnic minorities can encounter. While the arts and humanities have been at the forefront of these efforts, medical education has been a ‘late starter’ to the initiative. In this article, we describe the pioneering efforts to decolonise the undergraduate medical curriculum at UCL Medical School (UCLMS), London, by a group of clinician educators and students, with the aim of training emerging doctors to treat diverse patient populations equitably and effectively. Throughout this process, students, faculty and members of the public acted as collaborative ‘agents of change’ in co-producing curricula, prompting the implementation of several changes in the UCLMS curriculum and rubric. Reflecting a shift from a diversity-oriented to a decolonial framework, we outline three scaffolding concepts to frame the process of decolonising the medical curriculum: epistemic pluralism, cultural safety and critical consciousness. While each of these reflect a critical area of power imbalance within medical education, the utility of this framework extends beyond this, and it may be applied to interrogate curricula in other health-related disciplines and the natural sciences. We suggest how the medical curriculum can privilege perspectives from different disciplines to challenge the hegemony of the biomedical outlook in contemporary medicine – and offer space to perspectives traditionally marginalised within a colonial framework. We anticipate that through this process of re-centring, medical students will begin to think more holistically, critically and reflexively about the intersectional inequalities within clinical settings, health systems and society at large, and contribute to humanising the practice of medicine for all parties involved.

scholarly journals “Keepers of the Meaning”

2016 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Donald Farquhar MD SM
Keyword(s):  
Medical Education ◽  
Learning Environment ◽  
Medical School ◽  
Health Professions ◽  
Role Modelling ◽  
Queen's University ◽  
Main Thing

Albert Schweitzer once remarked, “Example is not the main thing in influencing others. It is the only thing.” How true that is in so many spheres, but particularly so in the health professions. Former Queen’s University vice-dean of medicine Dr. Robert Maudsley observed that, of the four fundamental components of medical education – planned and organized curriculum, structured experience, role modelling and the learning environment – role modelling is considered the most important, by far, by medical school deans.1

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document