Medical Students
Medical education can be isolating and even diminish the very qualities that we seek in a caring, humane, compassionate physician.
Efforts nationwide to address the stress, competition and dehumanization too often experienced by physicians in training are underway at several US medical schools.
The UK College of Medicine Department of Family Practice and Community Medicine offers 2 such courses;
- Yoga, Mindfulness and Meditation-
- Using Mind Body Skills for Self Care, Peak Performance,
- Stress Management and Optimal Wellness
- Healer’s Art- Reclaiming the Heart of Medicine
Participation in such courses has been shown to reduce medical student anxiety (including test anxiety), depression, isolation and competitiveness.
There is often an increased sense of self awareness, improved quality of relationships with peers, increased emotional well-being and more success maintaining self care behaviors, including physical activity and healthy nutrition.
University of Kentucky College of Medicine Electives
Yoga, Mindfulness and Meditation- Using Mind Body Skills for Self Care, Peak Performance, Stress Management and Optimal Wellness
Upon completion of this course, students will:
- Report a healthy enhancement of self awareness
- Report a healthy enhancement of self efficacy
- Manage stress, both personal and school-related, in a healthy way
- Be able to explain the self care value of several mind body techniques based on direct personal experience
- Write your own personal wellness prescription (1-2 page) based on simple, practical skills learned in this course (there is no exam)
- Appreciate how these behavioral, non-pharmacological approaches can benefit your patients
Content and Method of Teaching
- Didactic material ( Powerpoint, handouts and web-based resources ) will comprise ~1/4 of class time and will review exemplary research, educational and clinical programs nationwide which demonstrate the preventive and therapeutic value of behavioral, non-pharmacologic self care interventions. These include programs for medical students as well as patient groups.
- Most of the class (~3/4) will be devoted to students’ direct group experience of these techniques.
Course Coordinator
John A. Patterson MD
MSPH Assistant Professor, Community Based Faculty
Dept of Family Practice and Community Medicine
The Healer’s Art- Awakening the Heart of Medicine
This elective is being taught at 59 medical schools including Dartmouth, Harvard, Stanford, UCSF, Vanderbilt and Yale. Four sessions meet in the evenings to accommodate students from all 4 years.
The Course Goals include:
- To help medical students and faculty recognize, value, enhance and preserve the human dimension in health care
- To enable students and faculty to experience the core values of the Hippocratic Oath as a way of life – including compassion, service, harmlessness, reverence for life, and covenant
- To enable students and faculty to experience a collegial relationship that exemplifies “primum non nocere” (first, do no harm)
- To recognize the potential for a harmless relationship between professionals that is non-judgmental, non-competitive and that offers unique support and healing.
The Course uses a “discovery” model that encourages honest and mutually respectful sharing of experience, beliefs, values, and personal truths. Faculty participate as fellow human beings, not as experts – they are essentially taking the course along with the students. One former medical student said, “I see people from the Healer's Art course all the time in elevators, corridors, classes and on rotations. Whenever I see anyone from the course, I know that the values I carry in my heart are true.”
We meet 4 times, 2.5 hour each time, total of 10 hours contact yielding 1 hour elective credit.
Session titles include:
- Nurturing Our Wholeness
- Sharing Grief and Honoring Loss
- Allowing Awe and Mystery
- Care of the Soul
There is no exam.