Sir, – We read with interest Trinity College Dublin’s plans to assess medical students’ capacity to empathise with, or “love”, their patients (“TCD medical students in line for assessment on ability to ‘love’,” April 20th).
We may have just what they are looking for to achieve this worthy goal. As part of a module on public engagement with science at UCD, where we all study, we developed a teaching aid for medical students to see their patients as people and not just their medical issues to be treated.
Based loosely on the board game Operation, groups of medical students explore the relevant backstory of a fictional patient by reading text beneath the various organs of her body. As they read, they are invited to discuss and imagine what it must be like to be their fictional patient.
Having piloted our idea with medical students in UCD, it was interesting to see how much conversation this provoked. At a time when so many professions are threatened by AI, we must not lose sight of the value of human interaction. Perhaps it is time to make the development of these skills a core component of more professional degrees. – Yours, etc,
AISLING MEEHAN (2nd year Medicine),
AMY-ROSE WEBB-COOKE (3rd year BSc Sustainability),
KATELYN HAUBERT (3rd year BSc Sustainability),
DR SHANE BERGIN (Module coordinator),
University College Dublin.
Hospital care went further than ‘love’
Sir, – The report about Trinity College’s plans to assess medical students on their ability to “love” gave me pause for thought.
I am not sure how “love” can be taught to undergraduate doctors, but I do have something to offer on the topic. I recently received treatment in the Mater Hospital after a road-traffic incident. The clinical treatment I received from the consultant in the fracture clinic was excellent.
The same can be said for the technical and practical care I was given by the radiologists, physiotherapists, nurses and hospital doctors. The administration of appointments was sharp and efficient.
But it was the level of kindness I received from all those people and others – including the welcoming volunteers, porters and coffee-shop crew – that gave me the mental strength and positivity to feel that I, as a person (and not just a collection of fractures) was cared for and that I was not walking my healing journey alone.
I felt looked-after and held up by smiles, encouragement, compassion and friendliness. They were small acts of human connection that were as important to me as the clinical interventions.
“Love” does not describe what I experienced – it was much more than that. If it can be taught, it should be taught to every single person who works with people who are unwell. – Yours, etc,
DR PATRICIA BARKER,
Sutton,
Dublin.
