The Effect of Reflection Rounds on Medical Students’ Empathy

Background: Students’ decline in empathy during medical school raises concerns. Empathic physician-patient interactions positively impact health outcomes and patient satisfaction, while improving job satisfaction and reducing physician burnout. Reflection rounds may be suitable for maintaining student empathy during training. Hypothesis: Our hypothesis was Reflection Rounds would increase empathy scores of MS3s and results would vary by gender. Methods: MS3s completed the Jefferson Scale of Empathy upon starting and finishing their clerkship. Students in the experimental group attended four 1-hour sessions, led by a clinician and pastoral team member. The control group did not attend sessions. Results: No significant difference in baseline empathy scores was found between the two groups. There was a significant increase in student empathy scores among the experimental group, improving mean score from 114.1 to 116.5, p-value of 0.04. There were no significant changes among the students who did not participate in Reflection Rounds. Differences were found according to gender, with women scoring higher overall than men at baseline and increasing after sessions. Conclusion: These results indicate that Reflection Rounds can improve the empathy of medical students, and warrant further investigation into their effects and utility within medical education.

Timothy: Preparing for The Holy Eucharist within the Community when Communication is Non-verbal

Persons with intellectual disabilities are still regularly refused access to the Eucharist, as illustrated in an article in the Washington Post. Although Pope Francis and several Bishops’ Conferences and the new Directory for Catechesis (n°269–272) have made it clear that Catholics with disabilities have a right to participate in the sacraments as all other members of the ecclesial community, many church leaders still refrain from allowing persons with profound intellectual disabilities to access the Eucharist. This article investigates the experience of a pastoral team that prepared First Communion of a young boy with profound intellectual disabilities. The experience raised practical theological, pedagogical and pastoral ecclesial issues to be solved. These issues structure the article.

Is There A Place For Social Work Within the Catholic Church?

The decreasing number of Catholic priests seeking ordination has led to a variety of creative solutions to meet parishioners’ needs. While there are distinct similarities between the Catholic Social Teachings and the Canadian Association of Social Workers Code of Ethics there is little literature pertaining to the role or practice of social work within the Catholic Church. This exploratory study employing key informant interviews examined if there was a place for social work directly within the Church. Individuals presently providing social assistance within the Church did not typically have formal counselling preparation. As well, distinct gaps in service provision exist ranging from bereavement support to youth programming. Respondents stated that social workers would be a worthwhile addition to any pastoral team and that the provision of professional psychosocial supports should no longer occur at arms length from parishioners but should be incorporated directly into the ministry of the Catholic Church. Key Words: Catholic Church, Social Work, Spirituality

Meeting students' needs through a whole school approach to pastoral care

Pastoral care is defined as being that element of the teaching process which centres around the individual needs and environmental forces which either facilitate or impede the all-round development of the individual child. Present Victorian State Government policy endorses the establishment of effective pastoral care systems in schools. Three hundred students in Years 7 and 10 in three Victorian secondary schools were surveyed in order to find out how well these schools were meeting the non-academic needs of their students. A two-way ANOVA indicated that the way in which students perceive their needs will be met differs across schools, and between year levels. The functional differences in pastoral care teachers' roles across the three schools are considered and support is given for the inclusion of the “Student Welfare Coordinator” role in the pastoral team. The conclusion reached suggests that an effective pastoral system provides for meeting the needs of individual students, but in doing so, teaches problem solving skills that will be of use outside the classroom.