GERALD N. BURROW, M.D.
I feel
that it is essential that physicians in training and medical students
learn that there is much more to medical care than technology. Hospice
lives and breathes unique concerns for human aspects of life and
death, and in the months ahead, we will work to find new ways to
introduce our trainees to them.
Robert H. Gifford, M.D.
Associate Dean for Education and Student
Affairs
Yale School of Medicine
Medical
students in general lack education in the process of dying. Technology
is available to delay death, but not to prolong meaningful life.
Physicians are not sufficiently aware of the opportunities to make
the last stages of life more comfortable. Medical students need
to have the educational opportunity to learn about these terminal
stages.
The
Yale School of Public Health is directing a research project on
a palliative care and hospice educational program to be developed
and delivered by the Hospice Institute for Education,
Training and Research, Inc. in Branford. This has the potential
for generating significant interest in the milieu of "end-of-life
care." If the results of this educational intervention are
positive, it should be replicated throughout the state.
Physician
Assisted Living is in its infancy. Interestingly, though, we all
knew about it intuitively but never assigned a name to it. We now
have the ability, even the calling, to build upon PAL and the educational
program to expand it for the medical profession and our medical
schools throughout this country.
Gerald N. Burrow, M.D.
Dean Emeritus and
Special Advisor to the President for Health Affairs
Yale University School of Medicine
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MARGARET JOHNSON BIA, M.D.
A noted
thinker once said that "What we have done for ourselves alone
dies with us, but what we have done for others and the world remains
and is immortal."
Physician
Assisted Living provides a message of hope that is durable and doesn't
respect time.
I have
the perspective of a medical educator introduc-ing medical students
and residents in training to the subtleties of care when cure of
the disease seems no longer possible.
What
has been missing is an overarching theory or tool that allows us
safe passage into the world of our patients using universal language.
Physician
Assisted Living is an instrument designed to help the medical professional
communicate with patients about their needs. The Physician Assisted
Living concept creates a means for each patient, through collaboration
with the physician, to view the broadest possible array of care
options. Physician Assisted Living becomes the master story, the
construct, the framework or set of principles that helps relate
to a particular patient's unique set of circumstances: a map of
the patient's world at any stage of care.
I have
observed the caring of The Connecticut Hospice's Interdisciplinary
Team approach since its inception. Not surprising then, that this
concept, Physician Assisted Living (PAL), was birthed through the
energy of will and commitment of soul demonstrated therein.
For
medical students, residents in training, and practitioners, the
challenge is to care for the whole patient—not just treat their
diseases. Total care involves a seamless path between life and death—both
processes of equal importance. PAL is a way that allows physicians
to care for patients with this perspective—preserving dignity,
hope, and caring for the needs of the whole patient.
Margaret Johnson Bia, M.D.
Professor of Medicine
Yale University School of Medicine
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