American Medical Colleges has devoted its April issue to end-of-life and palliative care.

The articles examine the way medical students and residents are taught about taking care of dying patients and their families. The article, I Learned that No Death Is Routine, evaluates a death and bereavement seminar for pediatric residents. Dr. Nancy Hutton, of Johns Hopkins Children's Center, and one of the paper's authors, points out that although some of the most powerful experiences of residency relate to the death of a child, most residency programs provide little training to prepare residents to cope with the particular circumstances of pediatric death. Dr. Hutton is a Project on Death in America (PDIA) Faculty Scholar.

Another article evaluates end-of-life training requirements in selected postgraduate training programs. PDIA Faculty Scholar Dr. David Weissman and Faculty Scholar Program Director Dr. Susan Block found that current preparation of physicians who care for patients with four out of the top ten leading causes of death does not ensure that patients, regardless of their specific disease, have access to excellent end-of-life care. The authors recommend that all medical specialties involving interaction with dying patients adopt training requirements which would include pain and symptom management, ethics, patient and family communication, and knowledge of the epidemiology of death within the specialty.

"Physicians have a profound impact on the experiences of dying patients and their families. Inadequate training in pain and symptom control, psychological, social, and spiritual support for the patient and family, and communication with patients about palliative care presents a major - and unnecessary - barrier to good end-of-life care." said Dr. Block.

The PDIA Faculty Scholars Program identifies outstanding role model clinician-researchers committed to improving end-of-life care, and provides support to enable them to create new care models, and develop effective approaches to end-of life education for health professionals. To date, the program has funded 78 scholars in 50 medical schools in the U.S. and Canada. As a result of this program, faculty with an interest in end-of-life care are receiving long overdue recognition and support. For information about this program, go to www.soros.org/death.

Abstracts from all articles are available at Academic Medicine's web site (www.academicmedicine.org). For additional information regarding Academic Medicine, please contact Anne Farmakidis via e-mail (afaramkidis@aamc.org) or by phone at (202) 828-0593.

The mission of the Project on Death in America is to understand and transform the culture and experience of dying and bereavement through funding initiatives in research and scholarship, and to foster innovations in the provision of care, public education, professional education, and public policy. PDIA is one of the Open Society Institute's U.S. Programs, part of the Soros network of Foundations. OSI-US promotes programs that strengthen democracy and address barriers to justice and opportunity.