End-of-life care becomes focus at SMD

Course organizers at the University and Genesee Hospital also have received funding to implement a new curriculum so their medical students will focus on these issues as part of their education. The new medical training will be among the first in the nation to devote significant time to end-of-life issues for medical students in each of the four years of their training.

"Most physicians feel unprepared to provide competent care to dying patients, or to participate in end-of-life decisions," said Timothy Quill, an internationally recognized expert in end-of-life care who organized the course. "It's very difficult to talk about these issues, and so the result is that most physicians avoid talking about death-related issues with their patients. Then the patient's care and medical decisions become driven by technology rather than thoughtful discussions with patient and family. Poor communication is holding us back from delivering quality care toward the end of life."

Doctors tested the skills they learned by visiting with dying patients in homes, hospices, and hospitals throughout the Rochester area. They also grappled in small groups with their own attitudes toward death and dying. "Physicians are really struggling inside. This can be a very painful and difficult subject for us," said Quill, professor of medicine and psychiatry at the School of Medicine and Dentistry, head of the University's Program for Biopsychosocial Studies, and a physician at Genesee Hospital.

To help train doctors at the beginning of their careers, Quill has received funding from the Nathan Cummings Foundation to implement a new curriculum at SMD. A grant of $130,000 will enable physicians to give medical students in-depth exposure to end-of-life issues related to several specific diseases like AIDS and cancer. Students will spend extensive time interviewing patients who are dying as well as their families, putting a human face on the issues they've learned about in the classroom.

Maintained by University Public Relations
Please send your comments and suggestions to:
Public Relations.