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Journal of Medical Education

Abstract

The medical professions, among all professions, are exposed most frequently to death and dying. Despite the clear need, the design and implementation of thanatology courses is rarely explored in Taiwan. The aim of this report is to share our experience in teaching the course ”Medical Professions and Thanatology” offered in National Cheng Kung University Medical College. We discuss the course design, teaching strategy and preliminary results indicating teaching effectiveness. The course was a 2 credit general education elective course offered in 2010 to a total of 170 students. The teaching staffs were professionals from 7 different medical disciplines. From their experience-based life and death stories, complimented with lively teaching methods, the students were guided to an appreciation of the meaning of sickness and death in life, and an empathy with patients and their families facing death in a clinical context. The students' concentration during lectures and their written reflections after them, indicated approval of the course, and also indicated the effectiveness of the design and teaching strategies employed. It is hoped that this course may serve as a useful reference for other medical institutions offering similar courses.

First Page

97

Last Page

106

DOI

10.6145/jme201310

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