MCLIN 220 - End of Life Care

[25 Hours]

(P/F) The End-of-Life-Care Elective is a course designed for second year medical students to explore the issues surrounding patients facing terminally ill diseases. While the students participating in the course are in school to study health and illness, this course is primarily a lesson in the emotional, spiritual, and interpersonal relationships in the patient approaching end of life. Thus, while some time is dedicated to learning the components of effective medical management of hospice patients, the course emphasizes understanding the impact of a terminal disease on a person’s conscience and the provision of compassionate care. The course objectives are to develop a relationship with a dying patient; to identify some of the bio-psychosocial issues faced by dying patients; to enhance students’ communication skills with current and future patients; to witness treatment of terminally ill patients in modern health care systems; to identify some of the ethical principles pertinent to end-of-life care; to better understand the role of hospice in the care of terminally ill patients and their families; and to learn about the interdisciplinary approach to end-of-life care. Each student in the course is required to attend at least once hospice team meeting, meet with their assigned patient along with a hospice team member, and have two additional meetings with their patient over the course of the semester. Interlaced with these patient visits will be small-group sessions led by third and/or fourth-year medical students and SOM faculty who will facilitate a dialogue about the students’ experiences. Students will be evaluated by the SOM faculty on a Pass/Fail scale, on the basis of completion of all course responsibilities such as individual patient encounters and completion of reading assignments, and their level of engagement in small group sessions.