As Patients Age, Future Physicians Develop End of Life Skills

July 31, 2009 - PRLog -- The American Medical Student Association (AMSA), the nation’s oldest and largest, independent association for physicians-in-training, is pleased to present the graduates of the AMSA Foundation-VITAS End of Life Education Fellowship Program. Five medical students have spent the past six weeks immersing themselves in end of life (EOL) care issues.

The End of Life Education Fellowship Program is a six-week summer experience that combines an orientation to EOL care with weekly seminars and field placements at local hospices, nursing homes and inpatient units. VITAS, the nation’s leading provider of end-of-life care, has partnered with AMSA for the past five years. The program graduates are:

•   Dannie Chang, University of Michigan Medical School
•   Michelle Cormier, Florida State University College of Medicine
•   Brian Cousino, West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine
•   April Morrison, Lincoln Memorial University DeBusk College of Osteopathic Medicine
•   Khash Touloei, Western University of Osteopathic Medicine

Students were part of an interdisciplinary hospice team consisting of doctors, nurses, social workers, chaplains, bereavement counselors and volunteers. They developed and practiced basic interviewing and communication skills essential to EOL care, while understanding the psychological, sociological, cultural and spiritual aspects of death and dying. While at their program sites, students developed EOL curricula to be implemented at their medical schools and to be shared with medical schools across the nation.  

“As the Baby Boomer generation ages, end of life skills are an essential part of medical education,” says Dr. Lauren Hughes, MPH, AMSA national president. “AMSA urges all medical schools and residency programs to provide training to educate medical students and residents in issues of death and dying.”

For more information, please visit http://amsa.org/eol.

About the American Medical Student Association                                                                              The American Medical Student Association (AMSA), with more than a half-century history of medical student activism, is the oldest and largest independent association of physicians-in-training in the United States. Founded in 1950, AMSA is a student-governed, non-profit organization committed to representing the concerns of physicians-in-training. With more than 62,000 members, including medical and premedical students, residents and practicing physicians, AMSA is committed to improving medical training as well as advancing the profession of medicine. To learn more about AMSA, our strategic priorities, or joining the organization, please visit us online at www.amsa.org/.

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The American Medical Student Association is the oldest and largest independent association of physicians-in-training in the United States. Founded in 1950, AMSA makes medicine a better place for students, patients and communities.