The library “Heart of Patient” was established when the Ministry of Education had selected “prep-education through practical experiences to foster great doctors” proposed by Gunma University in their campaign called “support for university education reform” in 2004. There are books about a battle against illness, care by family, hospice and palliative care, records of care facilities, medical accidents and ethics, and so on.
The “prep-education through practical experiences to foster great doctors” proposed by Gunma University was selected by the Ministry of Education in their campaign called “support for university education reform” in 2004.
The aim of education in the Gunma University School of Medicine of the Department of Medicine is to motivate students to be doctors with skills, knowledge, and attitude that are all ethically right. This program has been implemented since 2002 to encourage students’ continuous motivation for learning, and to have students experience social responsibility as would-be doctors on the phase of the prep-education by designing the curriculum where students learn in small groups.
Freshman year, students have a class where they actually have an internship at hospitals, and have lectures and discussions about medical ethics. Sophomore year, they have an intensive internship, including nursing, for 4 weeks. Additionally, students have classes where they have research experiences and tutorials for writing dissertations in the afternoon three days a week. The main purpose of this program is to help students understand the “heart of patient” and learn sociality and the medical ethics as medical students through communication with patients staying at hospitals or people staying at nursing facilities.
The medical library, therefore, established the “Heart of Patient” to enhance the educational effect of this program, and has been collecting books about a battle against illness, care of family, hospice and palliative care, records of care facilities, essays written by doctors, medical accidents and ethics, and so on. We hope students of the medical department obtain the chance to learn “patient-oriented medical treatment” actively by utilizing this library.
Furthermore, we are willing to provide various kinds of information about medical treatments or nursing not only to the students of Gunma University but also to the public, such as those who are working in a medical field, those who want to work in the field, patients, and their families.