title: Effect of a compassion-focused training program in palliative care education for medical students.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Compassion is the key value of humanities perspective. Little is known, however, concerning the impact of enhancing compassion on ethical decision making in end-of-life care.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 251 preclinical medical students were enrolled in a palliative care training course. A structured self-report questionnaire was administered before and after training.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Experience with caring for patients with terminal cancer was positively related to improvement in the decision of "truth telling is helpful to a good death." In addition, improvement in the perception of "compassionate care" was correlated with higher improvement in the decision of "discharge planning and home care."
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Compassion-focused training program can be helpful to improve medical students' competence in making more appropriate ethical decisions in end-of-life care.
authors.affiliation: Department of Family Medicine, National Taiwan University Hospital Jin-shan Branch, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Chih-Yuan
authors.initials: CY
authors.lastname: Shih
authors.forename: Wen-Yu
authors.initials: WY
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.forename: Long-Teng
authors.initials: LT
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Chien-An
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Yao
authors.forename: Ching-Yu
authors.initials: CY
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Tai-Yuan
authors.initials: TY
authors.lastname: Chiu
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004501:Education, Medical / Q000379:methods*; D004645:Empathy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000628:therapy; D010166:Palliative Care / Q000941:ethics / Q000523:psychology; D013337:Students, Medical / Q000523:psychology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013727:Terminal Care / Q000379:methods / Q000523:psychology; D055815:Young Adult