Incorporating living from the heart into medical education

Abstract

Medical training poses many challenges to trainees' wellbeing. To address the impact of learning in a high turnover, high volume, acute care setting in the General Internal Medicine Clinical Teaching Unit, the Chief Medical Resident, in this personal account, shares how she and the Spiritual Care Practitioner united to form an innovative partnership. The introduction of the skills of spiritual care practitioners, generally referred to patients and families, to support medical students and residents resulted in the co-development and co-implementation of a unique, reflective, one-hour session. The objective was to create a protected space and time to discuss the impact of training and clinical experiences on medical trainees' wellbeing, in the context of “living from the heart”.

Disclosure statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of this article.

Notes on contributors

Miranda K. Boggild, MD, was Chief Medical Resident for Internal Medicine at Toronto General Hospital for the 2016–2017 academic year.

Wayne L. Gold, MD, holds several leadership positions in medical education at the University of Toronto.

Lisa Richardson, MA, MD, holds several leadership positions in medical education at the University of Toronto.

Kanae Kinoshita, MA, RP, is a spiritual care practitioner at Toronto General Hospital.