Second, if you could respond to the list serve itself by responding to
the following questions.
"What has been the most common (or significant) compliment you have
received from learners (at any level) regarding curriculum focused on the
integration of medicine and spirituality?"
also
"What has been the most common significant criticism/negative
comment you have heard regarding such curriculum?"
There is a curriculum for the medical students at Penn - a couple of
sessions - where this gets attention. They have been most positive
about a "dealing with your cadaver" session, in the latter half
of gross anatomy, where the students in groups of about 12 get to talk
about their feelings about their cadaver, and about other students
behavior in the anatomy lab, etc. A session on comparative
religion, trying to increase cultural competence in dealing with Hindu,
Muslim, Jewish, Buddist, etc beliefs around illness and death has
received mixed reviews, but generally has been positively received.
In the Humanism and Medicine seminar section I facilitate, inviting first
year students to talk about how their family has deal with illness and
death led to some profound sharing, and spirituality was included though
not mentioned in the directions. I have tended to avoid addressing
the topic directly with students or residents in terms of their own
spiritual/religious journey.
We get complaints both of the "what does this have to do with being
a doctor" and the "I already knew all this stuff before I got
to medical school - teach me medicine, not what I already know"
types. But that is true for much of the humanism and medicine
curriculum here, and is a clear minority of the students.