The International Journal of Whole Person Care
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Rare Disease Interest Group (rareDIG) at McGill University: A Medical Education Pilot Project
Get PDFOne in 12 Canadians have a rare disease, yet medical education continues to espouse Dr. Woodward’s aphorism “when you hear hoofbeats think horses, not zebras.” This produces physician attitudes which are deleterious to the care of people with rare diseases. The McGill University Rare Disease Interest Group (rareDIG) has created programming which sensitizes medical students to the extent and reality of rare diseases.rareDIG helps them to develop attitudes and approaches which shorten the diagnostic odyssey and improve care of people with rare diseases. Success stems from drawing attention to the realities of rare disease through direct patient interaction, creating a strong social media presence, and building collaborations with rare disease advocacy groups and networks. Our inaugural Rare Disease Day event was attended by over 100 attendees including medical students, patients and their families, and a variety of health professionals.Other successes include a Patient Perspective Series addressing the holistic approach to rare disease, shadowing opportunities, “n = rare” journal clubs, and a “Humans of Rare Disease” advocacy project. Medical students represent an important cohort to target with rare disease awareness campaigns that has largely been overlooked by current advocacy efforts. By exposing medical students early in their education to the realities of rare diseases, student-run interest groups can improve medical students’ understanding and perception of rare diseases and ultimately improve patient care in the future. rareDIG strives to continue achieving its objectives in rare disease education and aide other medical schools in creating their own rare disease student groups.
Designing an Autism Healing Center with Emphasis on Nature Therapy
Get PDFBackgroundAutism is a mental disorder which influences children’s learning ability and social skills. The children who suffer from autism are capable of learning, but comparing normal children, different facilities are required.The architectural space highly signifies the matter of teaching autistic children; interior and exterior design interacting nature and environment also plays a very significant role. Thus nature can be used as a healing agent, since the psychological impact of nature is highly effective.PurposeDesigning a healing center for autism considering a compatible design with nature in order to treat autism in children, improving their social skills in communication, decreasing hysteric behavior, and developing cognitive and emotional capacities, is the major aim of designing this project.Methods and ResultsUtilizing the data analysis related to autistic children and nature-based therapy, this article attempts to present the concept of a healing center in order to hold an educational space compatible with nature. This echo-therapy would be highly helpful in treatment of autistic children.SignificanceThere has been lots of information about the influence of echo-therapy on autistic children during recent years, but the practical use has rarely occurred. Children’s physical safety which is more guaranteed in a closed space is one reason; therefore, designing a safe construction interacting with nature, which can be under the control of instructors, seems very difficult. Thus, in this nature-based healing center, besides improving the skills mentioned, the children’s safety has been highly considered
"I wish I’d laid my hand on her shoulder". Fostering compassion in first-year medical students
Get PDFIn order to care for sick people as whole persons, health personnel need awareness of how sickness afflicts human beings, and how health professionals affect patients’ ability to deal with disease and suffering. In medical education there is a well-documented dearth of teaching and learning about emotions and relational healing mechanisms. Medical students are not systematically educated in the “existential anatomy” of persons, and how to deal productively with uncertainty, embarrassment and helplessness.In this highly participatory workshop, a concrete teaching method for first-year medical students, developed in Norway, will be shared. The method, called PASKON (“patient contact”) is anchored within a theoretical framework related to Whole Person Care, which is currently taught at McGill.Central to PASKON is the encounter between novice medical students and very sick volunteers, both in the patients’ homes and in the classroom. Having to enter the intimacy sphere of a stranger, and be acknowledged as a health professional without feeling like one, is an orchestrated rite of passage that generates strong emotions and a wealth of material for reflection. More experienced students coach the first-years and assess their reflective essays.The workshop will highlight the rationale for working with relationships, emotion and awareness in medical students. Participants will then be given roles as patients or students, and guided through a simulated session of PASKON, and reflections on the method and its potential applications