Inside this issueCover storiesNo one loved Yale more than Nick
Sixty years on, the last wishes of a prisoner of war are realizedPublic health studies to be advanced by two major new grants
PeopleExpert on race’s role in medical care wins fellowshipLifelines: Leo CooneyWomen’s health advocate honored for distinguished leadership
Head Start founder is honored for lifetime of leadershipScientist lauded for studies of dormant stem cells as therapyPsychologist, community leader receives Yale’s highest honorOut & aboutScienceAsthma: from mouse to man and back again
Advances: Cellular "antennae" guide developments | Blood vessel gene affects brain region | Getting a grip on the opposable thumb | A novel fix-it kit for faulty genes
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New curriculum focuses on diverse issues arising at life’s end
Yale professional schools and Yale-New Haven Hospital (YNHH) religious ministries have joined forces with the School of Medicine to introduce a “blended learning” curriculum that addresses the physical, emotional, cultural and spiritual issues that arise at the end of life. With funding from the Connecticut Cancer Partnership and the state’s Department of Public Health, the medical school has collaborated with the Yale School of Nursing, the Yale Divinity School, the Yale University Chaplain’s Office and the palliative care services of YNHH to develop an interdisciplinary program that will focus on symptom management, culture and spirituality and the importance of a multidisciplinary team approach to patient care at the end of life. “The primary goal of palliative care is to prevent and relieve the burdens imposed by diseases and their treatments,” says Matthew S. Ellman, M.D., assistant professor of medicine and director of end-of-life care skills education at the School of Medicine. “The focus is not just the disease; rather, palliative care focuses on alleviating symptoms, whether physical, emotional or spiritual, to improve quality of life in persons with advanced illness. Without the spiritual component, this care is not complete for some patients.” The curriculum will be required for medical students, and nursing and divinity students are being urged to participate as well. Blended learning will be accomplished by combining learning vehicles, such as web-based courses and traditional face-to-face classroom activities. Students will work through online interactive cases. They will then participate in workshops, moderated by faculty from each school, in which they will share their ideas and experiences with other students to appreciate the value of interdisciplinary teamwork in the care of patients. Through the combined resources, students will learn to recognize spiritual distress in patients, and how to conduct an empathetic, respectful, open-ended dialogue to help reveal the patient’s concerns, as well as other interventions to provide support and encouragement. Participating students also will be encouraged to consider how their own spiritual and cultural beliefs might affect the way they relate to and provide care for patients at the end of life. Once the program is fully established, the curriculum will be made available to other Connecticut institutions for use in palliative care education. For additional information about this program, please see the end-of-life and palliative care education website.  |
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