The neglected heart of medicine and education: Why medicine ought to be kinder
When you were training as a health-care professional (HCP), did you observe kindness on the part of your teachers, directed towards you and your fellow students, and, perhaps more importantly, to their patients? I’m sad to say that with a few notable exceptions, for the most part my medical education in the early 1970’s in the UK was devoid of kindness, something which at the time I found quite troubling. Thankfully things have moved on a bit since then, and most HCP’s in training today probably have a better experience than I did, although as PRIME’s work continues to reveal around the globe, there is still plenty of room for improvement.
It was encouraging then to read a recent article in Medical Teacher with the title above [1]. In it the author states, ‘Medical school should teach and reward kindness more, nurturing our thoughts, and collating our kind acts. Through a reflection of my experiences with those working in health inclusion, I contend that our medical education should better prioritise a depth of understanding of another’s feelings and needs. Recognising medical education as a powerful and formative experience for all of those involved, I emphasise the necessity of nurturing systems that allow kindness to flourish. Ultimately, I argue that we need to be helped to think more deeply about another, to better understand suffering and injustice, and how to best remedy them with due conscientiousness. Our education and practice must extend beyond simply discussing the social determinants of health and structural violence to become a questioning of the very moral and epistemic systems which propagate suffering.’
In this abstract the author describes what could be regarded as a central aspect of PRIME’s mission - ‘to teach and reward kindness more, nurturing our thoughts, and collating our kind acts.’
What if students and juniors were assessed on their kindness, as well as on their clinical competence? What if schools of Medicine and Nursing and other HCP training institutions ‘helped (us) to think more deeply about another, to better understand suffering and injustice and how to best remedy them’? This is exactly the kind of change PRIME seeks to bring in HCP education around the world.
No matter what our circumstances and resources, we can all choose to be kind to our patients, colleagues, students and juniors. It costs nothing and is known to enhance health outcomes, as well as reducing burnout amongst HCP’s who do it.
So, in the midst of our busy working and teaching schedules, let us take care to act with kindness. As St Paul reminds us, ‘the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy , peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control’ [2].
Dr Huw Morgan, PRIME Senior Tutor
References:
1 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/0142159X.2020.1781073?src=recsys&
2 Galatians 5, 22-23 (NIV)
