Thomas Jefferson University medical students are learning a lesson in laughter to care for the one patient who's often left untreated: themselves.
Despite having the knowledge and capabilities to cure an array of ailments, health care professionals suffer one the highest rate of suicide among all professions.
"It's almost ironic that people who are seeing the human condition at its worst have no tools to metabolize what that means," Dr. Sal Mangione, a professor of physical diagnosis at Thomas Jefferson University.
About 400 U.S. doctors commit suicide each year, often caused by career burnout, including physical fatigue, emotional exhaustion and crippling self-doubt.
As a result of these stark statistics, Jefferson has developed a theatrical program for its medical students to teach them to use humor and improvisation as a coping mechanism and a creative outlet to alleviate some of the stress and emotional burden doctors often endure.
In a recent NewsWorks article,
Dr. Sal Mangione, a professor of physical diagnosis at Thomas Jefferson
University's Sidney Kimmel Medical College and head of the school's humanities
program, outlined the program and its goals.
"A lot of soon-to-be doctors lose something along the way – their empathy, and even worse, a part of themselves," Mangione said.
"A lot of soon-to-be doctors lose something along the way – their empathy, and even worse, a part of themselves," Mangione told NewsWorks. "It's almost ironic that people who are seeing the human condition at its worst have no tools to metabolize what that means."
The 15-week premed theater course is run by a grant in partnership with Lantern Theater Company, located blocks from Jefferson.
Read the full NewWorks feature here.