End-of-Life Education for Medical/Nursing Students

Abstract

In Japan, end-of-life (EOL) education has been encouraged since the late 1980s. However, EOL education at medical/nursing schools is insufficient. EOL education is regarded to have the effect of reducing the anxiety of students who face such issues as advance directives, stopping life-sustaining treatment, brain death, and death with dignity. Such education helps students to cope with real death and dying people and their family members. Death underlies medical care, and EOL education is therefore important and indispensable for medical/nursing students EOL education for medical/nursing students should be conducted from a broader point of view by experts in various fields. Patients, their family members, or the bereaved should be invited as guest speakers: their speeches will help the students to imagine real death and to think about different aspects of death. Cosmetics for the dead body are useful for becoming aware of the dignity of patients and taking grief care, and cooperative learning is necessary for students in order to develop a mindset for team medical care and to widen their horizons EOL education for medical/nursing students requires not only lectures but also practice of role play, hospice visits, and hand-on practice in hospital. I propose an EOL education program in Japan in this paper.