A Module on Death and Dying to Develop Empathy in Student Pharmacists

Abstract

To implement an integrated module on death and dying into a 15-week bioethics course and determine whether it increased student pharmacists' empathy. Students participated in a 5-week death and dying module that included presentation of the film Wit, an interactive lecture on hospice, and a lecture on the ethics of pain management. Fifty-six students completed the 30-item Balanced Emotional Empathy Scale (BEES) before and after completing the module and wrote a reflective essay. Students demonstrated an appreciation of patient-specific values in their essay. Quantitative data collected via BEES scores demonstrated significant improvement in measured empathy. A 5-week instructional model on death and dying significantly increased student empathy.