"Confessions of a Reluctant Caregiver" Palliative Educational Program: The Results of a Survey Assessing Physicians' Perceptions of Drama-Based Education for End-of-Life Care.

Inadequate palliative care training in medical education is associated with many physicians feeling unprepared to care for dying patients and their families. Therefore, an opportunity exists to offer physicians continuing medical education that increases their understanding of and comfort with complex palliative care issues. The goal of the current study was to evaluate The Confessions of a Reluctant Caregiver Palliative Educational Program as an educational tool for physicians. The study employed a cross-sectional post-performance evaluation survey assessing physicians' perceptions of the Confessions of a Reluctant Caregiver Palliative Educational Program. The program was presented to members of four professional healthcare organizations. A total of 50 physicians completed the evaluation survey. Overall, physicians rated the Confessions of a Reluctant Caregiver Palliative Educational Program positively. Their understanding of and comfort with end-of-life issues increased significantly after participating in the program. Moreover, they considered the program to be more useful than didactic lectures and journal articles. The results suggest that the Confessions of a Reluctant Caregiver Palliative Educational Program is a valuable education tool for palliative care training. More research is needed to explore its utility as an option for continuing medical education.

Responding to Racism in the Clinical Setting: A Novel Use of Forum Theatre in Social Medicine Education.

Issues of race have traditionally been addressed in medical school curricula in a didactic manner. However, medical school curricula often lack adequate opportunity for the application of learning material relating to race and culture. When confronted with acts of racism in clinical settings, students are left unprepared to respond appropriately and effectively. Forum Theatre offers a dynamic platform by which participants are empowered to actively engage with and become part of the performance. When used in an educational context, Forum Theatre can be a powerful tool for students to interact with a wide variety of social issues. This paper describes the process by which one medical school designed a workshop in the Forum Theatre style to equip students to respond to racism observed in clinical settings. Based on real student experiences, the Responding to Racism in the Clinical Setting workshop was designed to give students an opportunity to combine cultural humility, communication theory and conflict resolution skills in order to prepare for interactions in clinical stages of medical education. As a result of workshop evaluations, surveys, and written reflections, the authors propose that Forum Theatre is a novel teaching modality for incorporating issues of race and culture into medical curriculum.

Confessions of a Reluctant Caregiver Palliative Educational Program: Using Readers' Theater to Teach End-of-Life Communication in Undergraduate Medical Education.

End-of-life care can be stressful for patients, caregivers, and providers. Caregivers often experience high levels of burden from caregiving duties such as performing medical tasks, communicating with providers, and making decisions. Similarly, many physicians feel unprepared to provide end-of-life care or communicate with patients and families about sensitive issues associated with death and dying. Physicians often attribute their lack of preparation to inadequate training in medical school. Previous research suggests that drama-based learning opportunities are valuable supplements to existing end-of-life curricula. The current study evaluates the success of the Confessions of a Reluctant Caregiver Palliative Educational Program - a drama-based educational program that depicts patient and caregiver experiences. A total of 477 osteopathic medical students participated in the program, which includes viewing a play, engaging in a facilitated post-performance talkback session, and completing an evaluation survey. The results suggest the program is a valuable learning experience that is positively associated with important facets of experiential learning using narratives such as perceived realism, increased reflection, strong emotions, and increased comfort with difficult behaviors. The program offers a safe environment for medical students to identify, understand, and process the sensitive and complex issues associated with end-of-life care. Moreover, the play offers insight into the often-overlooked experiences of family caregivers who are at risk of experiencing high caregiver burden while managing health-related communication and decision-making.

Moving toward Narrative Competence and Inclusive Healthcare through the Open Book Project.

This essay offers a layered account of the origins and enactment of a narrative medicine program at the Ohio University Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine titled the Open Book Project (OBP). Narrative medicine positions clinical judgment as involving both scientific and narrative reasoning, a set of practices particularly well-suited to fostering inclusive health care and social justice. The OBP involved first-year medical students who met bi-monthly to witness, reflect on, and write about literary passages, visual images, music and lyrics, and other works of art. Sessions also provided opportunities for participants to attentively listen and respond to others, opening themselves to diverse ways of knowing and being. The authors move between academic literature, participants' compositions developed during the project, and students' testimonies to illustrate the dividends and difficulties of narrative medicine.