As discussions about student mental health have resurfaced in the wake of the health crisis and amid reforms to graduate-level education, our faculty teams have developed, in collaboration with students and stakeholders, a one-of-a-kind educational concept. Temporarily named “Interpersonal Skills and Therapeutic Communication,” this empathy-focused curriculum represents a true ethical and educational innovation. To learn more, we spoke with the project leaders: Dr. Amandine Luquiens and Prof. Céline Bourgier, as well as Théo Lacoste, a student member of the steering committee.

 

The Origins of a Project Centered on Empathy

A need for evaluation arising from the R2C evaluation procedures

In 2018, the proposed reform of the second cycle of medical studies (R2C) was presented to the various academic leaders of the Faculty, prompting a response from Prof. Céline Bourgier. She noted that, following the R2C, student assessment methods would include evaluating students’ interpersonal skills and empathy through the Certificate of Clinical Competence (C3). However, at that time, no course entirely dedicated to developing this skill existed in our curriculum. 

Joined in 2019 by Dr. Amandine Luquiens, a psychiatrist and addiction specialist at Nîmes University Hospital, the two doctors will now team up to lead a project aimed at developing an innovative teaching unit capable of meeting the requirements of the R2C. Their first step is to assess the current level of empathy among medical students.

 

A striking finding: medical students’ empathy declines as they progress through their studies

Their initial findings are surprising. In fact, through their literature review, the two researchers discovered that medical students tend to experience a decline in empathy throughout their studies. “This decline begins concurrently with hospital rotations. It appears that the gap between the ‘idealization of the healthcare profession’ and the ‘reality of the healthcare profession’ is a triggering factor,” – explains Amandine Luquiens

Another observation: this decline is strongly correlated with the burnout and depression that healthcare students may experience.

 

A structured educational program to reverse this decline and ensure higher-quality care in the future

These findings have motivated the project leaders to create a new, innovative course unit (CU) with a twofold objective: 

• To equip students with the tools and skills needed to improve the quality of careby instilling in them a person-centered approach rather than focusing solely on symptoms or medical conditions
• Preventing psychosocial risks, not only for patients but also for students, future healthcare professionals.

These two complementary elements will therefore be developed jointly by a dedicated committee composed of faculty, students, and users.

 

An EU designed to foster the development of skills centered on empathy toward oneself and toward patients

Stages in the Development of the EU

Such an EU requires a period of development followed by a pilot phase, which will be implemented within the Faculty in five major stages: 

 

An EU program designed to help students learn about emotional management

As Théo Lacoste, Student Vice Dean for the 2021–2022 academic year, points out, medical students are “perfectionists”: “They are selected because they are the best. And this selection process continues over the years. The need to be—or at least to appear—‘flawless’ at every level—whether professionally or emotionally—persists until it becomes almost a cultural component of our way of thinking.” 

But this is precisely a change in cultural attitudes on this subject that this course unit aims to foster: Amandine Luquiens explains: “We are seeking to foster a cultural shift among students, and indeed, within the Faculty as a whole. The Faculty cares for its students, and students must care for one another. We will thus help them acquire tools that go hand in hand with both protecting themselves and curbing ‘emotional suppression’—a management strategy used for many years by doctors to address the patient-caregiver relationship.”

 PTo achieve this goal, the EU is structured around four main modules, all of which are mandatory: 

• Introduction to Mindfulness Meditation Mindfulness
• Sharing Best Practices among peers: this module encourages open communication and helps participants better understand professional communication within a healthcare team
• Therapeutic Communication : a multi-year module featuring theoretical instruction on announcements, the integration of theater workshops, and simulation workshops.
• Stigmatization in Healthcare : a module featuring user testimonials in which individuals share their experiences with students regarding situations they have encountered during their care journey

 

In short: an innovative initiative in more ways than one

Humanism is a core value of the Faculty. It is an integral part of its history, but it also serves as a guiding principle for its future, as evidenced by this innovative program in more ways than one. Indeed, this is an ethical and pedagogical innovation : 

• co-created with students, faculty, users, and administrative staff: a true example of cross-functional collaboration among the women and men of our community 
• who is interested in a genuine social and societal issues facing health students and who intervenes early enough in their academic program to anticipate it and long enough to address it in depth
• which includes theoretical modules but also, and above all, highly practical modules, centered on a human-centered approach to the patient-caregiver relationship, particularly through simulation workshops
• Skills developer developer of key skills centered on empathy and interpersonal skills: essential tools for a more humane approach to medicine
• carrying a message for both students and their future patients

 

Opportunities for other degree programs

The introduction of this course unit into the medical curriculum inevitably raises questions about the other programs offered by the faculty (midwifery, paramedicine). “Medicine is relatively behind compared to other programs,” admits Dr. Luquiens. “Indeed, there are already course units in the other programs, but not in such a structured, phased manner. The idea is therefore, once this course unit has been refined, to ‘spread’ it to the other programs, with the aim of taking a transdisciplinary approach to these skills.”