The Healing Ministry of Christ.

Caring for the sick requires determination and moral courage; there is a spiritual side to the battle against disease. The Christian caregiver, through Christ, receives the grace to confront the morally exhausting suffering of patients and enhancing the unique bonds that arise from that suffering. Our faith Christ who dying destroys death and in rising restores life, allows the Christian to affirm faith as well as heal disease in ministry to the sick.

Ceremonies of gratitude following the dissection course: A report on procedures in departments of anatomy in German speaking countries.

The departments of anatomy in Germany, Austria and the German-speaking part of Switzerland were sent comprehensive (18 items) questionnaires requesting details on memorial ceremonies held at the close of the dissection course in the medical curriculum, including objectives, organization, number of participants and the role of the medical students. The response rate was very high (95%). In more than 95% of instances a ceremony is held, initiated mainly after 1970. The titles of the ceremony range from commemoration ceremony (42%), service of mourning (19%) memorial service (19%) to ceremony of gratitude (7%). The number of participants exceeds 300 in 15% of these ceremonies. The invitation comes mostly from the student group organizing the ceremony (62%). The ceremony is offered mainly for the students of the course (23%), for student tutors (16%), relatives of the body donors (23%) and scientific staff (15%). The students actively participate with musical contributions (19%), gestures such as candles (17%) and flowers (12%), speeches (17%) and readings (12%). The relevance of the practical dissection course and body donation programs is also discussed. The results are compared to ceremonies in various countries with different religious backgrounds. This dissection course is unique among all courses in the medical curriculum as it obviously also has spiritual aspects.

Evaluation of a breast and colon cancer survivorship program.

This article describes a cancer survivorship program that addressed quality of life (QOL) changes related to chemotherapy. The program focused on adult breast and colon cancer survivors at a community oncology practice in the southeastern United States, and consisted of an educational visit designed to identify and address QOL changes that occurred as a result of chemotherapy. The QOL of Cancer Survivors (QOL-CS) survey administered before and after the visit analyzed QOL metrics, which were combined with program evaluation data to assess physical, psychosocial, social, and spiritual well-being changes that may have occurred as a result of program participation. Differences in QOL-CS scores did not represent statistically significant changes in QOL for program participants. However, program evaluation responses identified perceived changes in QOL as a result of participating in cancer treatment and a subsequent cancer survivorship program, which demonstrated clinical significance for program participants. Physical, psychosocial, social, and spiritual well-being measures were affected by program participation. Improvement in distress related to the initial cancer diagnosis and family distress were the most significant reported changes, and male gender and advanced age were associated with improved psychosocial well-being.