A survey of 111 medical schools found 12 provided no formal teaching in death and dying, 30 provided 1 or 2 lectures in the first 2 years, 51 taught it as a module of a larger course, and 18 offered it as an elective. A Yale School of Medicine seminar uses patients as teachers. (Author/MSE)

The University of California, Los Angeles, medical school has developed and implemented, "Doctoring," a four-year interdisciplinary course sequence to prepare students to care for patients, families, and communities in a caring, humanistic, and competent manner. Each year has a special area of emphasis but with a cumulative approach to…