A module on death and dying to develop empathy in student pharmacists

Abstract

Objective. To implement an integrated module on death and dying into a 15-week bioethics course and determine whether it increased student pharmacists' empathy. Design. 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. Assessment. 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. Conclusion. A 5-week instructional model on death and dying significantly increased student empathy.