Soignants, philosophes et sociologues examinent les effets de la pandémie de Covid-19 sur les grands principes éthiques. Ils abordent la situation des personnes vulnérables, le système de soin, l'éthique en contexte ou encore les relations entre santé et environnement.
Introduction: Including palliative care (PC) in overloaded medical curricula is a challenge, especially where there is a lack of PC specialists. We hypothesised that non-specialised rotations could provide meaningful PC learning when there are enough clinical experiences, with adequate feedback.
Objective: Observe the effects of including PC topics in non-specialised placements for undergraduate medical students in two different medical schools.
Design: Observational prospective study.
Setting: Medical schools in Brazil.
Participants: 134 sixth-year medical students of two medical schools.
Methods: This was a longitudinal study that observed the development of Self-efficacy in Palliative Care (SEPC) and Thanatophobia (TS) in sixth-year medical students in different non-specialised clinical rotations in two Brazilian medical schools (MS1 and MS2). We enrolled 78 students in MS1 during the Emergency and Critical Care rotation and 56 students in MS2 during the rotation in Anaesthesiology. Both schools provide PC discussions with different learning environment and approaches.
Primary outcomes: SEPC and TS Scales were used to assess students at the beginning and the end of the rotations.
Results: In both schools’ students had an increase in SEPC and a decrease in TS scores.
Conclusion: Non-specialised rotations that consider PC competencies as core aspects of being a doctor can be effective to develop SEPC and decrease TS levels.
Purpose: This multi-component educational intervention was aimed at General Internal Medicine residents’ perceived self-efficacy in providing end of life care. This study also measured the uptake of the Comfort Measures Order Set.
Methods: This non-randomized study was conducted over nine 4-week rotations on one General Internal Medicine ward. The intervention consisted of: 1) a didactic module, 2) presence of the Palliative Care Consult Team at General Internal Medicine rounds and, 3) provision of end of life care educational materials. Twenty learners completed a pre/post Self-Efficacy in Palliative Care Scale.
Data/Results: Data revealed improved self-efficacy ratings on the overall scale, and on all three subscales of the Self-Efficacy in Palliative Care Scale. The Comfort Measures Order Set was implemented in 62% of patient deaths in the intervention group, and 51% of patient deaths in the control group, demonstrating no statistical difference between these groups.
Conclusion: The uptake of the order set in both the intervention and control groups demonstrated utility in providing a clinical framework for delivering end of life care and highlighted the need for on-going education and enhancement of clinicians' self-efficacy in end of life care.
BACKGROUND: The medical student experience of a clinical elective in palliative care (PC) remains understudied. Reflective narrative interventions can help students hone narrative competency skills, make sense of their clinical experiences and shed light on their perception of the rotation.
OBJECTIVES: To evaluate medical student written reflections after a PC clinical elective.
DESIGN: Students were asked to write a short reflective essay after PC clinical electives using open-ended writing prompts.
SETTING: Essays were collected from third and fourth-year medical students after completion of a PC elective at three geographically diverse academic medical centers in the United States.
MEASUREMENTS: Essays were coded for themes using a conventional content qualitative method of analysis.
RESULTS: Thirty-four essays were analyzed and four major themes emerged: reflection on the mission of medicine or motivation for being in medicine, reflection on professional skills or lessons learned, reflection on patient's experience and personal responses to PC rotation. Sub-themes were also identified.
CONCLUSIONS: Themes underscore the utility of the PC clinical elective as a meaningful experience that imparts useful skills, builds empathy, reminds students of their own motivations for being in medicine and serves as a catalyst for reflection on their own lives and relationships with their patients. Awareness of medical students' personal and emotional responses to a PC elective can help inform educators as they support their students and provide opportunities for reflection and education.
Background: An analysis of the position statements of secular US medical and surgical professional societies on physician-assisted suicide (PAS) and euthanasia have not been published recently. Available statements were evaluated for position, content, and sentiment.
Methods: In order to create a comprehensive list of secular medical and surgical societies, the results of a systematic search using Google were cross-referenced with a list of societies that have a seat on the American Medical Association House of Delegates. Societies with position statements were identified. These statements were divided into 5 categories: opposed to PAS and/or euthanasia, studied neutrality, supportive, acknowledgement without statement, and no statement. Linguistic analysis was performed using RapidMinder in order to determine word frequency and sentiment respective to individual statements. To ensure accuracy, only statements with word counts > 100 were analyzed. A 2-tailed independent t test was used to test for variance among sentiment scores of opposing and studied neutrality statements.
Results: Of 150 societies, only 12 (8%) have position statements on PAS and euthanasia: 11 for PAS (5 opposing and 4 studied neutrality) and 9 for euthanasia (6 opposing and 2 studied neutrality). Although the most popular words used in opposing and studied neutrality statements are similar, notable exceptions exist (suicide, medicine, and treatment appear frequently in opposing statements, but not in studied neutrality statements, whereas psychologists, law, and individuals appear frequently in studied neutrality statements, but not in opposing statements). Sentiment scores for opposing and studied neutrality statements do not differ (mean, 0.094 vs. 0.104; P = 0.90).
Conclusions: Few US medical and surgical societies have position statements on PAS and euthanasia. Among them, opposing and studied neutrality statements share similar linguistic sentiment. Opposing and studied neutrality statements have clear differences, but share recommendations. Both opposing and studied neutrality statements cite potential risks of PAS legalization and suggest that good palliative care might diminish a patient’s desire for PAS.
Depuis plusieurs décennies, de nombreux rapports insistent sur la nécessité de diffuser les soins palliatifs en formant les étudiants en médecine à cette pratique. Dans ce contexte, l’évaluation des dispositifs pédagogiques est un impératif. Une recherche qualitative est réalisée auprès de 18 internes en médecine ayant effectué un stage de 6 mois dans une équipe de soins palliatifs, fixe ou mobile. Cette étude exploratoire vise à recueillir le retour qu’ils font sur leurs vécus lors du stage, les compétences qu’ils ont acquises, leurs appréciations sur les modalités pédagogiques. Après analyse des entretiens, cinq thématiques sont identifiées. Les internes décrivent une déstabilisation initiale en début de stage. Ils relatent un renforcement de leurs compétences professionnelles avec l’apprentissage d’un meilleur rapport à leurs émotions. Ils font le constat que de nombreuses compétences sont transférables dans leur spécialité, mais que, bien souvent, la compétence délibérative ne peut être vécue qu’individuellement. Ils mentionnent une expérience de questionnement et de réflexivité sur leur parcours professionnel et personnel. Ils soulignent le rôle favorable de l’accompagnement pédagogique. Si l’apport d’un stage en équipe de soins palliatifs apparaît manifeste, il importe que les référents pédagogiques mènent une réflexion éthique afin de bien comprendre les fondements de la clinique palliative mais aussi les décalages, les tensions, voire les paradoxes vis-à-vis du référentiel médical actuel.
Introduction : La loi Léonetti a donné un cadre réglementaire à la fin de vie. Si la formation des futurs médecins s’est adaptée à cette évolution, l’impact émotionnel de la fin de vie sur les futurs médecins n’a pas été étudié et son évaluation était le but de la présente étude.
Méthodes : Une enquête nationale anonyme a été effectuée auprès des étudiants en médecine lors du choix de la spécialité juste avant le début de l’internat. Le questionnaire explorait le ressenti lors d’une décision de fin de vie, les modalités d’apprentissage et les connaissances théoriques. Les résultats sont présentés en pourcentage (avec intervalle de confiance à 95 %) ou en moyenne (avec écart type).
Résultats : Sur les 3600 étudiants, 3187 questionnaires (88 %) ont été collectés et analysés. Au cours de leur externat, 85 % [83–86] des étudiants ont été exposés à une décision de fin de vie. Soixante-sept pour cent [63–71] ont exprimé un sentiment de découragement transitoire, et même un sentiment de déprime pour 62 % [59–67]. Ces situations ont entraîné une modification du projet professionnel pour environ 10 % d’entre eux. Les étudiants ont déclaré partager les difficultés rencontrées principalement avec un médecin senior et une absence de formation adéquate pour apprendre à gérer ces situations.
Discussion : Les décisions de fin de vie sont fréquemment rencontrées pendant les études de médecine. L’impact psychologique est significatif dans plus de la moitié des cas, entraînant même des changements de projet professionnel. Pour apprendre à gérer ces situations, les étudiants privilégieraient des échanges d’expériences en petits groupes.
Introduction: Despite growing recognition of pediatric palliative care's importance, training in palliative care communication remains a gap in medical education. Graduating medical students frequently feel unprepared to initiate or facilitate goals of care conversations with their patients, particularly in pediatrics.
Methods: We created a 3-hour session featuring an introductory lecture on pediatric palliative care, communication drills on responding to emotion, and small-group case-based discussions utilizing role-play, targeting fourth-year medical students as the primary learners. Senior residents were also given the opportunity to develop skills by role-playing the patient parent and cofacilitating case discussions alongside palliative care faculty. Students evaluated session utility and their own confidence through pre- and postsession surveys using a 5-point Likert scale (1 = strongly disagree, 5 = strongly agree).
Results: Twenty-six students were included in the analysis over 3 years. All agreed that the session was useful (M = 4.9). Students showed significant improvement in confidence in explaining pediatric palliative care (presession M = 3.2, postsession M = 4.1, p < .001), understanding the family experience (presession M = 2.7, postsession M = 4.1, p < .001), and eliciting goals and values from families whose children face serious illnesses (presession M = 3.1, postsession M = 4.1, p < .001). Pediatric resident cofacilitators also felt the session benefited their own teaching and communication skills.
Discussion: This 3-hour interactive session on pediatric palliative care utilizing communication drills and role-play was effective in improving fourth-year medical students' confidence in communicating with families of children facing life-threatening illnesses.
BACKGROUND: Moral distress is a state in which a clinician cannot act in accordance with their ethical beliefs because of external constraints. Physician trainees, who work within rigid hierarchies and who lack clinical experience, are particularly vulnerable to moral distress. We examined the dynamics of physician trainee moral distress in end-of-life care by comparing experiences in two different national cultures and healthcare systems.
OBJECTIVE: We investigated cultural factors in the US and the UK that may produce moral distress within their respective healthcare systems, as well as how these factors shape experiences of moral distress among physician trainees.
DESIGN: Semi-structured in-depth qualitative interviews about experiences of end-of-life care and moral distress.
PARTICIPANTS: Sixteen internal medicine residents in the US and fourteen junior doctors in the UK.
APPROACH: The work was analyzed using thematic analysis.
KEY RESULTS: Some drivers of moral distress were similar among US and UK trainees, including delivery of potentially inappropriate treatments, a poorly defined care trajectory, and involvement of multiple teams creating different care expectations. For UK trainees, healthcare team hierarchy was common, whereas for US trainees, pressure from families, a lack of guidelines for withholding inappropriate treatments, and distress around physically harming patients were frequently cited. US trainees described how patient autonomy and a fear of lawsuits contributed to moral distress, whereas UK trainees described how societal expectations around resource allocation mitigated it.
CONCLUSION: This research highlights how the differing experiences of moral distress among US and UK physician trainees are influenced by their countries' healthcare cultures. This research illustrates how experiences of moral distress reflect the broader culture in which it occurs and suggests how trainees may be particularly vulnerable to it. Clinicians and healthcare leaders in both countries can learn from each other about policies and practices that might decrease the moral distress trainees experience.
Background: Narrative medicine (NM) interventions have positively influenced empathy and burnout to varying degrees in health-care workers. We systematically reviewed the impact of poetry, a form of NM, on empathy and professional burnout.
Methods: A comprehensive search of Ovid MEDLINE(R) and Epub Ahead of Print, In-Process & Other Non-Indexed Citations, and Daily, Ovid EMBASE, Ovid PsycINFO, Ovid Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, Ovid Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, and Scopus, from inception to September 25, 2018, for articles published in English, was conducted using search terms related to NM, empathy, professional burnout, and health-care personnel.
Results: Of the 401 abstracts independently screened for inclusion by 2 reviewers, 2 quantitative, 3 qualitative studies, and 1 research letter were included. One research letter, focusing on the use of poetry, found it to increase empathy as measured by a nonvalidated questionnaire. All other studies used mixed NM interventions: 2 quantitative studies, using validated surveys, showed an increase in empathy and 2 qualitative studies showed limited to a prominent finding of increased empathy. There were no studies that used poetry exclusively to assess impact on professional burnout. One quantitative study, utilizing a validated survey, revealed no overall reduced burnout among residents, although high attendance participants had moderately reduced burnout postintervention, and one qualitative study noted limited reduction in burnout.
Conclusion: There is evidence that poetry as part of a NM intervention may increase empathy and limited evidence that it may reduce professional burnout among health-care workers.
Que se passe-t-il dans notre cerveau lorsque nous passons de vie à trépas ? Pourquoi son activité persiste-t-elle parfois ? Et qu'est-ce que mourir, au fond ? Aussi étrange que cela paraisse, les frontières de la mort restent mal définies. Et pour cause : depuis la "résurrection" d'une pendue en 1650 et les électrisations de cadavres menées par Galvani, elles n'ont cessé d'être repoussées. Aujourd'hui, les nouveaux docteurs Frankenstein envisageraient même de greffer un corps pour prolonger la vie...
Après avoir lui-même frôlé la mort, l'auteur s'est passionné pour cette épopée scientifique. D'une plume acérée au contact des archives, il retrace l'histoire des physiologistes et des médecins qui ont pavé la voie aux découvertes actuelles. De laboratoires en hôpitaux, il nous conduit à la rencontre de ces morts au coeur battant, de cet alpiniste, indemne après neuf heures de réanimation cardiaque, de ces cerveaux sortis de leur crâne et toujours actifs, sans oublier les "revenants" d'une expérience de mort imminente (EMI).
Un récit époustouflant qui questionne notre condition humaine.
[Résumé éditeur]
Les éditeurs de la revue Etudes ont compilé une série d'articles publiés entre 2005 et 2011 sur la notion de "prendre soin" :
-Introduction d'Agatha Zielinski : Que signifie "prendre soin" ?
-Pour une médecine de l'incurable, Céline Lefève et Jean-Christophe Mino (Juin 2008)
-Violence de la maladie, entretien avec Claire Marin (Juillet 2008)
-Former de vrais thérapeutes, Jean-Christophe Mino, Marie-Odile Frattini, Emmanuel Fournier (Février 2011)
-L'éthique du Care, une nouvelle façon de prendre soin, Agatha Zielinski (décembre 2010)
-Postface de Patrick Verspieren, "Le pacte de soin" à partir de l'article "Malade et médecin partenaires" (Janvier 2005)
End-of-life (EOL) care is a key aspect of critical care medicine (CCM) training. The goal of this study was to survey CCM residents and program directors (PDs) across Canada to describe current EOL care education. Using a literature review, we created a self-administered survey encompassing 10 CCM national objectives of training to address: (1) curricular content and evaluation methods, (2) residents' preparedness to meet these objectives, and (3) opportunities for educational improvement. We performed pilot testing and clinical sensibility testing, then distributed it to all residents and PDs across the 13 Canadian CCM programs. Our response rate was 84.3% overall (77 [81.1%] for residents and 13 [100%] for PDs). Residents rated direct observation, informal advice, and self-reflection as both the top 3 most utilized and perceived most effective teaching modalities. Residents most commonly reported comfort with skills related to pain and symptom management (n = 67, 94.3%; score > 3 on 5-point Likert scale), and least commonly reported comfort with donation after cardiac death skills (n = 26-38; 44.8%-65.5%). Base specialty and time in CCM training were independently associated with comfort ratings for some, but not all, EOL skills. With respect to family meetings, residents infrequently received feedback; however, most PDs believed feedback on 6 to 10 meetings is required for competence. When PD perceptions of teaching effectiveness were compared with resident comfort ratings, differences were most apparent for skills related to pain and symptom management, cultural awareness, and ethical principles. By the end of their first subspecialty training year, PDs expect residents to be competent at most, but not all, EOL skills. In summary, trainees and programs rely on clinical activities to develop competency in EOL care, resulting in some educational gaps. Transitioning to competency-based medical education presents an opportunity to address some of these gaps, while other gaps will require more specific curricular intervention.
Palliative care is central to the role of all clinical doctors. There is variability in the amount and type of teaching about palliative care at undergraduate level. Time allocated for such teaching within the undergraduate medical curricula remains scarce. Given this, the effectiveness of palliative care teaching needs to be known.
OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the effectiveness of palliative care teaching for undergraduate medical students.
DESIGN: A systematic review was prepared according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidance. Screening, data extraction and quality assessment (mixed methods and Cochrane risk of bias tool) were performed in duplicate.
DATA SOURCES: Embase, MEDLINE, PsycINFO, Web of Science, ClinicalTrials.gov, Cochrane and grey literature in August 2019. Studies evaluating palliative care teaching interventions with medical students were included.
RESULTS: 1446 titles/abstracts and 122 full-text articles were screened. 19 studies were included with 3253 participants. 17 of the varied methods palliative care teaching interventions improved knowledge outcomes. The effect of teaching on clinical practice and patient outcomes was not evaluated in any study.
CONCLUSIONS: The majority of palliative care teaching interventions reviewed improved knowledge of medical students. The studies did not show one type of teaching method to be better than others, and thus no 'best way' to provide teaching about palliative care was identified. High quality, comparative research is needed to further understand effectiveness of palliative care teaching on patient care/clinical practice/outcomes in the short-term and longer-term.
Health Science students in Spain and Bolivia should be trained in the management of the processes of death and dying of patients. The aim of this study was to examine the degree of training, self-perceived safety and preferences in relation to the care of terminal and non-terminal patients. It was a descriptive, cross-sectional, multicenter study with students of Medicine, Nursing and Physiotherapy in Spain and Bolivia. The following variables were evaluated: care preparation and emotional preparation to caring for terminally ill and non-terminally ill patients, the Death Attitude Profile Revised (PAM-R) and the Bugen Scale for Facing Death. The self-perceived preparation of students for caring for terminally ill patients can be considered "fair" (mean 2.15, SD 0.756), and this was also the case for their perceived emotional preparation (mean 2.19, SD 0.827). In contrast, the score obtained for their preparedness for treating non-terminal patients was higher (mean 2.99 and 3.16, respectively). Working with terminally ill patients, including terminal or geriatric cancer patients, was the least preferred option among future health professionals. The results obtained show a limited preference for end-of-life care and treatment, highlighting a lack of preparation and motivation among health science students in Spain and Bolivia for working with these patients.
BACKGROUND: There is a need for improved primary palliative care (PC) education and resident comfort with providing end-of-life care.
OBJECTIVE: Utilize a new instrument derived from published PC competencies to assess baseline Internal Medicine (IM) resident knowledge and self-efficacy in PC to identify educational gaps and create new PC curricula.
DESIGN: We created a 2-part instrument including a Knowledge Test (KT) and a Self-Efficacy Inventory (SEI) addressing 18 PC resident competencies across 5 domains: Pain and Symptom Management (PSM), Communication (COMM), Psychosocial, Spiritual, and Cultural Aspects of Care (PSC), Terminal Care and Bereavement (TCB), and Palliative Care Principles and Practice (PCPP).
SETTING/SUBJECTS: The instrument was emailed to IM residents at our institution during academic years 2015-2016 and 2016-2017.
MEASUREMENTS: Basic descriptive statistics were performed for the KT and SEI. Mean Rank Analysis and One-way ANOVA were utilized for the KT and SEI, respectively. Congruence was calculated between knowledge and self-efficacy.
RESULTS: The mean score on the KT was 73% (range 33-80%). There was no significant difference in knowledge among post-graduate year cohorts. Self-efficacy scores were lower for interns overall and in PCPP, TCB, and COMM domains. Knowledge was concordant with self-efficacy in 42% of participants, higher than self-efficacy in 10% of participants, and lower than self-efficacy in 48% of participants.
CONCLUSIONS: For approximately half of respondents, high self-efficacy in PC did not correlate with high PC knowledge. A more focused curriculum is needed to help IM residents facilitate mastery of PC competencies by graduation.
INTRODUCTION: Patient demographics demand physicians who are competent in and embrace palliative care as part of their professional identity. Published literature describes ways that learners acquire knowledge, skills and attitudes for palliative care. These studies are, however, limited by their focus on the individual where learning is about acquisition. Viewing learning as a process of becoming through the interplay of individual, social relationships and cultures, offers a novel perspective from which to explore the affordances for professional identity development.
METHODS: Qualitative narrative methods were used to explore 45 narratives of memorable learning (NMLs) for palliative care recounted by 14 graduating family medicine residents in one family medicine residency program. Thematic and narrative analyses identified the affordances that support and constrain the dynamic emergence of professional identity.
RESULTS: Participants recounted affordances that supported and/or constrained their learning acting on personal (e.g. past experiences of death), interpersonal (e.g. professional support) and systemic (e.g. patient continuity) levels. Opportunities for developing professional identity were dynamic: factors acted in harmony, were misaligned, or colliding to support or constrain an emerging professional identity for palliative care practice.
CONCLUSION: Findings highlight how individual factors interplay with interpersonal and structural conditions in the workplace in dynamic and emergent ways that may support or constrain the emergence of professional identity. Viewing learning as a process of becoming allows teachers, curriculum developers and administrators to appreciate the complexity and importance of the interplay between the individual and the workplace affordances to create environments that nurture professional identity for palliative care practice.
Background: One of the most difficult and stressful tasks faced by health science students is having to cope with death and dying due to the emotional burden of the same. Furthermore, the moral, ethical and professional values of future health professionals are influenced by the cultures where they live.
Purpose: This study sought to compare and analyze the perception on end of life among a sample of health science students in Spain and Bolivia.
Methods: A descriptive, cross-sectional and multi-centric study. The total sample (548 students) was comprised of three groups: medical, nursing and physiotherapy students, of whom 245 were from Bolivia, and 303 were Spanish students. The measurement instruments used were the Bugen’s Coping with Death Scale and the Death Self-Efficacy Scale by Robbins.
Results: No statistically significant differences were observed between Spanish and Bolivian students (t (546) = - 0.248, p = 0.804) using the Bugen scale. This implies that there are no differences between the perception of both groups of students and that both groups use similar strategies to cope with death. Additionally, the beliefs and attitudes of both groups were similar, with Bolivian students presenting a trend towards improved scores. No differences were found between Spain and Bolivia in the results obtained on the Robbins scale, with students from both countries displaying similar skills and capabilities for facing death.
Conclusions: The beliefs on death of health science students from Spain and Bolivia were not affected by the respective cultures, type of degree studied, students’ age, or the country of origin, however, we found that students in Bolivia value death as something more natural than their Spanish counterparts.
Practice implications:
To appropriately prepare students for this topic, education on coping with death and dying must be included within the university curriculum.
Objectives: In an ageing society, community-based medical education in a home care setting needs to be developed. Drawing on Kolb's experiential learning theory, this study aimed to explore the learning processes in overnight home care by medical trainees in terms of their understanding of terminally ill patients and their conceptualization of themselves as future physicians.
Methods: An overnight home care program in which a trainee had to take care of terminally ill patients on his/her own under the supervision of a healthcare team was conducted. Nineteen trainees, including eight medical students and 11 residents, participated in this study. Text data of reflective reports written after the overnight care were collected and thematically analyzed.
Results: The trainees' learning experiences in the program were categorized into four stages: predeparture, concrete experience, reflective observation and abstract conceptualization. Although they had mixed feelings, including anxiety, fear and expectations, at the predeparture stage, they could be actively involved in providing medical care and daily life support and in taking care of dying patients at the patients' homes overnight. By reflecting on their experiences, they gained a sense of achievement and identified the aspects upon which they should improve as future physicians. Subsequently, based on their reflective observation, they conceptualized their approaches to home care and the roles/responsibilities of physicians as healers, which led to professional identity formation.
Conclusions: Overnight home care by medical trainees has the potential as an educational strategy to promote their realistic understanding of home care and facilitate professional identity formation.
This study focuses on the impact of common spiritual beliefs regarding metaphysical questions in agreeability with the practice of hastened death. A sample of 497 Portuguese medical students was collected. Differences between genders and religions, predictors for agreeability with hastened death and the association between spiritual beliefs and opinion towards hastened death cases were assessed. Respondents were mostly favourable to the practice of hastened death. Formal religious affiliation and higher levels of religiosity significantly associated with lesser agreeability with hastened death. Statistically significant association was found between every hastened death scenario and multiple of the spiritual beliefs used. A number of spiritual beliefs were predictors of agreeability. We discuss the implications of religion and spirituality in agreeability with hastened death. Further research is required to better understand the true weight of spirituality in one's opinion towards this ethical dilemma.