Discussing end-of-life issues with patients: reflections on developing an interviewing template to assist first-year medical students.
First-year medical students at the University of Ottawa currently use an interview template to work with patients who have chronic illnesses. A second-year medical student (JJ) modified the template to facilitate the discussion of death and end-of-life care by students who may have had little previous experience with such sensitive topics. The modification was accomplished using the following strategies: a systematic literature review on long-term care or nursing home residents' end-of-life needs; participation in a support group for families of dying patients; volunteering in a day hospice program for two months; piloting the template with two palliative care patients, one resident of a long-term care facility, and one family member. The paper summarizes and reflects on the process.
Jones
J
J
Faculty of Medicine, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
Hall
P
P
Schroder
C
C
Weaver
L
L
Bouvette
M
M
D000368:Aged; D004504:Education, Medical, Undergraduate / Q000379:methods*; D006738:Hospices; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D009864:Ontario; D010166:Palliative Care; D010865:Pilot Projects; D012657:Self-Help Groups; D013727:Terminal Care