Medical Foundation 2:

• A Good Death (Active Learning Large Group Session): In this session, students will:
  • Define palliative and end-of-life care.
  • Reflect and question our own thoughts, feelings and emotions around death, dying and bereavement.
  • Explore issues of end-of-life care and the palliative approach to care.

Medical Foundation 4:

• Ethics in End of Life Care (Professional Competencies Session): In this large group session and case-based small-group session, students will:
  • Identify and discuss core concerns of ethical decision-making at the end of life, especially concerning who makes decisions and what they need to understand alternatives and support those choices.
  • Explore different and differing understandings of end-of-life decisions and the options available to patients and their families.
  • Understand the duties of the doctor in end-of-life care including exploring the provision of Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD) as an end-of-life option for patients.

Integration Foundation:

• End-of-Life Care (Active Learning Large Group Session): In this session, students will:
  • Address end-of-life decision making and planning, including advance care planning and goals of care discussions.
  • Identify appropriate care for dying patients and their families.
  • Identify psychosocial and spiritual needs of they dying patient and family, including grief and bereavement.
• Curiosity and Patience (Clinical Skills Active Learning Session): In this case-based learning session, students will:
  • Describe and identify patients who would benefit from a palliative care approach early in their illness trajectory.
  • Systematically assess symptoms in patients with palliative care needs and participate in evidence-based holistic and interprofessional management of these symptoms.
  • Identify the components of a holistic, interprofessional management plan for a patient with palliative care needs.
  • Describe the hierarchy for Substitute Decision-Making for a patient who lacks capacity.
  • Describe the role of Substitute Decision Makers in palliative and end-of-life care planning.
• Dyspnea in Adult Palliative Care (Clinical Skills Weekly Small Group Session): In this case-based learning session working with their clinical skills group, students will:
  • Learn and practice an approach to an Adult Palliative Care assessment.
  • Review an approach to history and physical examination for dyspnea in palliative care.

Transition to Clerkship

• Goals of Care Simulation Session with Standardized Patients: In this case-based learning session, students will:
  • Demonstrate the ability to have a goals of care discussion with a simulated patient (SP).
• Rapid Fire Case in Palliative Care: In this case-based module, students will:
  • Review an approach to an undifferentiated patient presenting with acute delirium.
  • Discuss first line palliative care interventions to help manage metastatic bone pain and malignant hypercalcemia.
  • Review an example values-based goals of care discussion for a patient with serious illness on admission to hospital.