Death and Medical Education

Abstract With the changes that have occurred in Medicine, particularly in recent decades, death has been transferred form the family to the hospital environment. Doctors now find they need to deal with death and the dying. Only recently have medical schools become concerned with the subject. In Brazil, isolated endeavors have resulted from the personal concerns of psychologists, nurses and doctors. The responses obtained in the present report underline the need to include this subject in the Medicine curriculum. The subject of terminal illness is not a concern during undergraduate years and students thus often resort to denial and omnipotence to avoid suffering as far as possible. There should be a concern to educate, and not just instruct, both teachers who confess to being unprepared to discuss the subject, and students.摘要：随着医学领域的变革，尤其是近数十年来的发展，死亡的发生场景已从家庭转移至医院环境。如今，临床医师亟需直面死亡与临终照护相关工作。直至近年，医学院校才开始关注这一议题。在巴西，相关零散探索多源于心理学家、护士与医师的个人职业关切。本报告所获的调研结果凸显了将该议题纳入医学课程体系的必要性。当前，晚期疾病相关议题并未纳入医学本科教学范畴，学生因此往往采取否认与全能感的心理防御方式，尽可能规避直面此类议题带来的精神痛苦。我们亟需开展针对性的教育工作，而非单纯的知识传授，覆盖坦言尚未准备好讨论该议题的教师与全体医学生。