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Table 2 Medical Student Competencies in Palliative Care Domain #1: Serious Illness Communication

From: Paving the way for universal medical student training in serious illness communication: the Massachusetts Medical Schools’ Collaborative

Mission statement: Upon graduation, medical students will have acquired the foundational knowledge, skills and inspiration ton engage as residents in goal-ariented conversations with seriously ill patients, with commitment to lifelong learning and deliberate practice

Competency #1: Explores patient and family understanding of illness, concerns, values, and goals in order to develop goal-concordant treatment palns across settings of care

Competency #2: Demonstrates effective approaches to exploring and responding to strong emotions in patients and families facing serious illness

Competency #3: Applies a patient-centered framework to sharing difficult news, exploring pain and symptom burden, assessing prognostic awareness, discussing resuscitation preferences, and describing care at end of life

Competency #4: Demonstrates awareness of one’s own emotions and attitudes, and coping strategies for managing stress and uncertainty when caring for seriously ill patients

Competency #5: Defines and explains the philosophy and role of palliative care and differentiates hospice from palliative care