The Healer

1
The Healers Art

• Julie McKee, MD
• Department of Family Medicine
• University of Texas Medical Branch

2
The Healers Art Elective

• Introduced to UCSF 14 years at ago by Dr. Rachel
  Naomi Remen
• Approximately 45 of students take course each
  year at UCSF.
• Healers Art is taught at over 50 medical schools
  in the US, Canada and Israel.
• Over 3,500 medical students have completed the
  course
• Standardized course evaluation scores a 4.79 out
  of 5

3
Healers Art

• Introduction and Five 3-hour classes
• Every class focuses on skills that help students
  develop emotional maturity and resilience.
• This course uses an experiential approach and as
  such does not teach facts, but facilitates
  students personal growth.
• Each class has an introductory didactic session,
  followed by small group discussion.
• Each small group has a faculty facilitator who
  will function as a mentor during the course.

4
First Class

• Nurturing Your Wholeness
• Goal Gain a sense of how medical training may
  compromise ones sense of wholeness and suppress
  some of the underlying compassion-based reasons
  for entering medical training.

5
Second Class

• Sharing Grief and Honoring Loss
• Goal Gain a stronger sense of loss as an
  integral part of life.

6
Third Class

• Group Conversation about Loss
• Goal Appreciate how unconditional listening
  without angst over fixing or curing can be
  healing and that medical training is adding
  intellect and skills to the wealth of wisdom each
  student already possesses.

7
Fourth Class

• Allowing Awe in Medicine
• Goal Gain and share an appreciation for the awe
  and mystery involved in medicine and life. The
  richness inherent in human interaction and in
  human spirit, along with those moments that
  intellect just cannot explain make the practice
  of medicine a joy to practice.

8
Fifth Class

• The Care of the Soul Service as a Way of Life
• Goal To find a deep meaning in the practice of
  medicine as meaning can be the antecedent to
  purpose and bring great satisfaction to our work.
  Group will write a personal Hippocratic Oath.

9
Healers Art at UTMB

• We have added 4 Survival Skills classes during
  which we will focus on stress reduction
  strategies.
• Students are provided with a Healers Art
  Reader, and gift copies of Tuesdays with
  Morrie and Kitchen Table Wisdom and are
  encouraged to explore these readings.
• Also required are daily practice of Survival
  Skills, daily journaling assignments and a 4-5
  page paper research paper on a topic agreed upon
  with faculty.

10
MS4 Healers Art at UTMB

• Currently, first group of seniors are taking the
  course.
• Adapting course content to their specific needs.

11
MS1 Healers Art at UTMB

• Preparing for a group of freshmen to take this
  course as a Preclinical Preceptorship in June
• Research plans include evaluation of student
  attitudes prior to course, immediately after
  course and as seniors.

12
DISCUSSION