title: A module on death and dying to develop empathy in student pharmacists.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To implement an integrated module on death and dying into a 15-week bioethics course and determine whether it increased student pharmacists' empathy.
  
  
  METHODS
  Students participated in a 5-week death and dying module that included presentation of the film Wit, an interactive lecture on hospice, and a lecture on the ethics of pain management.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Fifty-six students completed the 30-item Balanced Emotional Empathy Scale (BEES) before and after completing the module and wrote a reflective essay. Students demonstrated an appreciation of patient-specific values in their essay. Quantitative data collected via BEES scores demonstrated significant improvement in measured empathy.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  A 5-week instructional model on death and dying significantly increased student empathy.
authors.affiliation: Wingate University School of Pharmacy, NC 28174-0159, USA. mmanolakis@wingate.edu
authors.forename: Michael L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Manolakis
authors.forename: Jacqueline L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Olin
authors.forename: Phillip L
authors.initials: PL
authors.lastname: Thornton
authors.forename: Christian R
authors.initials: CR
authors.lastname: Dolder
authors.forename: Conor
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Hanrahan
mesh_terms: D003643:Death; D004512:Education, Pharmacy; D004645:Empathy; D004994:Ethics, Pharmacy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010595:Pharmacists; D013339:Students, Pharmacy