Medical Students’ Experience in a Trauma Chaplain Shadowing Program: A Mixed Method Analysis

Abstract

Despite the importance of spirituality to health and patient care, there remains a lack of educational opportunities for medical students to learn about and engage the spiritual needs of patients. Shadowing of hospital chaplains has been employed as a means of providing instruction in spirituality, but published experiences of this pedagogy are limited. This study therefore analyzed an elective, firstyear medical student, eight-hour, trauma chaplain shadowing experience, the objectives of which are to increase students' knowledge and understanding of (i) the role of chaplains/pastoral care in patient care; (ii) strategies for engaging patients and/or families in difficult situations; and (iii) approaches for discussing issues of spirituality with patients and families. A questionnaire was sent to participants after the experience assessing the value of the experience. Two focus groups provided additional qualitative data. Of the 148 participants over 6 years, 100 completed the questionnaire (68%). Participants on average engaged 1.78 trauma patients or their families and experienced 3.63 overall patient/family interactions during their shadowing. Over 90% of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that the experience provided agreater understanding of the role of the chaplain, and was educationally, professionally, and personally useful. Over 60% of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that the experience improved their understanding of discussing difficult or spiritual topics with patients and families. Nearly all respondents (98%) would recommend asimilar shadowing experience to fellow medical students. Qualitative remarks echoed these findings, revealing themes surrounding the educational benefits, surprise, and awe experienced by participants, and indicating appreciation for the interprofessional aspect of the experience. These data demonstrate that trauma chaplain shadowing may be effective for introducing first-year medical students to healthcare chaplaincy, educating them about the challenges of navigating difficult spiritual conversations with patients and families, and exposing them to interprofessional collaboration.

Systematic review of medical education on spirituality

“…Shadowing chaplains, debriefing with them or writing reflectively about observing their interactions with patients were exemplified by Gomez et al ., Schonfeld et al ., Frazier et al . and McEvoy et al 10–13 . Evaluations of these demonstrated an improved understanding of approaches to difficult or spiritual topics with patients and emphasised the importance of spirituality in medicine.…”

“…Students appreciated the distinct set of skills that chaplains demonstrated in communication and relationship with patients; models that doctors could incorporate into their careers 10 . Chaplain lectures were well received by residents 16 …”

“…Key curriculum content as illustrated in Table 2 includes working with chaplains, journal article discussion, reading relevant books and field visits to places of worship 8,10,11,13,15,20,28 . Self‐assessment and journaling have also been formative 13,22 .…”

Chaplain-Physician Interactions From the Chaplain’s Perspective: A Mixed Method Analysis

“…Incorporating education on pastoral care into medical school curricula may be one way of achieving this. 20 Another important theme that arose was the issue of structural barriers to the full integration of the chaplain into medical care teams. The chaplains in this study identified 2 barriers.…”

Insights on my future job: implementing near-peer shadowing program for operating room freshmen

“…In fact, after a year and a half of the pre-clinical phase, students can apply the topics learned in theoretical courses in a practical way, which can reduce their motivation. Despite the revision of the undergraduate curriculum in the operating room by reducing the theoretical courses and upgrading the internship program, but it seems that providing opportunities for effective clinical encounters are not well considered [ 9 ], and these deficiencies can affect students’ motivation to learn and acquire knowledge and skills.…”