{"id":47869,"date":"2001-03-16T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2001-03-16T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2001\/03\/16\/drama-helps-medical-professionals-learn-compassionatecare-for-the-dying-wit-play-offers-unmc-students-insightful-look-atend-of-life-issues\/"},"modified":"2022-08-29T10:52:57","modified_gmt":"2022-08-29T15:52:57","slug":"drama-helps-medical-professionals-learn-compassionatecare-for-the-dying-wit-play-offers-unmc-students-insightful-look-atend-of-life-issues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2001\/03\/16\/drama-helps-medical-professionals-learn-compassionatecare-for-the-dying-wit-play-offers-unmc-students-insightful-look-atend-of-life-issues\/","title":{"rendered":"Drama Helps Medical Professionals Learn Compassionate\n\nCare for the Dying; Wit Play Offers UNMC Students Insightful Look at\n\nEnd of Life Issues"},"content":{"rendered":"

A full-length reading of the play, Wit, by members of Omahas Blue<\/p>\n

Barn Theater, will be held Tuesday, March 20 at 6:30 p.m. at the Omaha<\/p>\n

Community Playhouse.  This performance is sponsored by the University<\/p>\n

of Nebraska Medical Center Alumni Association, the UNMC Professionalism<\/p>\n

Committee and the Wit Education Initiative. Three UNMC faculty members<\/p>\n

will facilitate a discussion among audience members following the reading.<\/p>\n

The entire complement of 601 tickets will be free of charge, but only available<\/p>\n

to UNMC students and faculty.<\/p>\n

Wit chronicles the experiences of a literature professor stricken With<\/p>\n

advanced ovarian cancer.  Through her experience of illness and her<\/p>\n

treatment in a major cancer research center, the audience is confronted<\/p>\n

With many of the challenges faced by dying patients and their doctors. <\/p>\n

The Wit Educational Initiative is an innovative medical training program<\/p>\n

that uses local theater productions of Wit to educate medical students,<\/p>\n

residents, nursing students and other health professionals about the special<\/p>\n

needs of terminally ill patients.<\/p>\n

The play, written by Margaret Edson, won a Pulitzer Prize in 1999. <\/p>\n

It had an extended run on Broadway and toured the United States. <\/p>\n

The Wit Education Initiative, funded by a grant from the Fan Fox and Leslie<\/p>\n

R. Samuels Foundation in New York, is collaborating with over 30 regional<\/p>\n

theaters and medical schools throughout America and Canada to coordinate<\/p>\n

Wit performances and discussions.<\/p>\n

Recent research has shown that there are serious deficiencies in the<\/p>\n

care provided to dying persons, and that medical training does not include<\/p>\n

adequate teaching in end-of-life care. Medical training typically does<\/p>\n

not provide opportunities for caregivers to reflect on the importance of<\/p>\n

communication skills and the power of empathy in caring for terminally<\/p>\n

ill patients.<\/p>\n

Traditionally, during the Wit programs, medical students, nursing students,<\/p>\n

other health professionals and faculty attend the play, and afterwards<\/p>\n

participate in small-group discussions.  Here, often for the first<\/p>\n

time, they are able to:<\/p>\n

· gain emotional insight into the patients experience of illness<\/p>\n

and death;<\/p>\n

· reflect as to how they treat patients at or near the end of<\/p>\n

life;<\/p>\n

· learn about the physicians role in end-of-life care.<\/p>\n

This play is very well written and really captures the essence of the <\/p>\n

caregiver\/patient relationship and its human complexity, said David Steele,<\/p>\n

Ph.D, associate professor in the UNMC department of family medicine, who<\/p>\n

has seen a previous performance of Wit. Dr. Steele is one of the facilitators<\/p>\n

for the post-reading discussion, along With Cathy Eberle, M.D., associate<\/p>\n

professor in the geriatrics section of the department of internal medicine<\/p>\n

and June Eilers, Ph.D., adjunct clinical associate professor in the UNMC<\/p>\n

College of Nursing and NHS University Hospital clinical nurse researcher..<\/p>\n

Wit will be a wonderful experience for UNMC students, Dr. Steele said. <\/p>\n

There is nothing like it to really focus on why medical professionals<\/p>\n

and care givers must never lose sight of the patient as a person — as<\/p>\n

a whole human being — and not just someone to be managed.<\/p>\n

 The UNMC Professionalism Committee was created by the UNMC Alumni<\/p>\n

Association.  One purpose of the committee is to provide opportunities<\/p>\n

in the area of professionalism that can involve interaction among all of<\/p>\n

the disciplines on campus.<\/p>\nEp DWgVqtymZMQxhEGqtndm iH<\/a><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A full-length reading of the play, Wit, by members of Omahas Blue Barn Theater, will be held Tuesday, March 20 at 6:30 p.m. at the Omaha Community Playhouse.  This performance is sponsored by the University of Nebraska Medical Center Alumni Association, the UNMC Professionalism Committee and the Wit Education Initiative. Three UNMC faculty members will […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":79,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-47869","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","department-press-release"],"yoast_head":"\nDrama Helps Medical Professionals Learn Compassionate Care for the Dying; Wit Play Offers UNMC Students Insightful Look at End of Life Issues<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A full-length reading of the play, Wit, by members of Omahas Blue Barn Theater, will be held Tuesday, March 20 at 6:30 p.m. at the Omaha Community\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2001\/03\/16\/drama-helps-medical-professionals-learn-compassionatecare-for-the-dying-wit-play-offers-unmc-students-insightful-look-atend-of-life-issues\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Drama Helps Medical Professionals Learn Compassionate Care for the Dying; 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