No One Dies Alone: Addressing a Gap in Medical Education

Abstract

Medical school curriculum typically consists of didactical experiences with minimal patient interaction for junior students followed by clinical experiences with supplementary didactics for senior students. Due to the focus on understanding basic medical concepts and disease pathophysiology during the first few years of medical school, students have limited exposure to real-life clinical situations that involve complex, difficult concepts such as death and dying. This leaves students ill-prepared to contribute meaningfully to patients’ end-of-life (EOL) care that they will inevitably encounter during their clerkship years. We believe that students would benefit from increased exposure to these difficult situations through structured educational environments, such as the No One Dies Alone Program. In this way, students can become more familiar with the difficult concepts of death and dying, learn how to make meaningful contributions in their patients’ EOL care, and ultimately provide patients with the “good death” they deserve.

‘You Also Have to Let People Go’—Effects of Formative Experiences with Dying and Death on Medical Trainees’ Attitudes

“…The physical reactions to dying experiences include, among others, sleep disorders [5]. The research also shows that medical students feel ill-prepared by their medical training to encounter the death of a patient [6,8,[16][17][18] and insufficiently supported by their supervisors concerning end-of-life (EOL) issues [8,19]. The lack of discussion culture in the hospital environment on the subject of dying and death is criticized [15].…”