The UConn School of Medicine has received a grant to continue funding the Healers Art – Awaking the Heart of Medicine course for 2015.
The Hospice Education Institute (HEI) has supported this innovative and internationally recognized curriculum since 2006. “Because one of the course sessions is on grief and loss and we explore death and dying, the course goals and objectives align well with HEI’s mission to cultivate awareness and education about hospice care, as well as overall humanism and professionalism among health professionals,” says Dr. Mary Guerrera, professor of family medicine and director of integrative medicine.
The class is offered to first and second year medical students and is led by Guerrera, along with Dr. Elizabeth Plotkin Simmons, UConn Health ophthalmologist; Dr. Adam Simmons, neurologist at the Hospital for Special Care; and Katy Wilcox, UConn Health chaplain.
“Having Rev. Wilcox join us as a faculty facilitator adds a unique opportunity for students to learn about the work of a hospital chaplain and enriches our class dialogue about caring for patients and families at the end of life, as well as the importance of caring for ourselves,” adds Guerrera.
More than 80 institutions, both nationally and internationally, offer the Healers Art course which addresses many of the issues being encountered in the current medical education and health care systems.
The course includes five 3-hour sessions that cover a variety of topics including sharing grief and honoring loss, allowing awe in medicine, and service as a way of life.