PREREQUISITES AND PLACEMENT IN THE CURRICULUM: Completion of Phase 2

PURPOSE:
C.R.E.A.T.E. (Compassion, Resilience and Emotional Awareness Training and Education) is a 2-week/30-hour elective that is offered virtually for 3rd and 4th year medical students nationwide four times a year. It includes ten 3-hour live online sessions and daily assignments of research articles and educational videos. The curriculum is aimed at the development of skills that promote well-being, resilience, mindfulness, compassion for self and others, emotional awareness and regulation, and diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging. It encompasses components from three evidence-based educational programs, i.e. CBCTâ (Cognitively-Based Compassion Training: https://compassion.emory.edu/cbct-compassion-training/index.html); MSC (Mindful Self-Compassion: https://self-compassion.org/the-program/) and its adaptation for healthcare, i.e. SCHC (Self-Compassion for Healthcare Communities: https://centerformsc.org/schc/); and Cultivating Emotional Balance: https://cultivating-emotional-balance.org/lineage/). In addition, the curriculum includes current literature on well-being and resilience, and relevant topics such as loneliness, imposter syndrome, implicit biases in healthcare, as well as the impact of mindfulness and compassion training on the well-being of medical students and healthcare professionals. The course was developed and it is taught by M. Bento Soares, Ph.D., Professor and Head, Cancer Biology and Pharmacology and Senior Associate Dean for Research at the University of Illinois College of Medicine Peoria, who is a certified instructor of the four educational programs aforementioned.

OBJECTIVES:
At the end of this course, the student will be able to:

  1. Relate to adversities with greater emotional awareness and kindness to self and others
  2. Relate to patients with empathetic concern and compassion, not with emphaty distress or indifference
  3. Become more aware of implicit biases and their impact on our behavior and emotional experiences
  4. Respond to challenging situations with greater discernment and kindness, rather than reacting impulsively and harshly
  5. Becoming aware that well-being and compassion are skills that can be developed with training, and learning supportive practices that may be applied anytime and anywhere
  6. Develop feelings of warm-heartedness towards an ever-widening circle of people
  7. Become a compassionate friend to self and others

INSTRUCTIONAL METHODS:
The course will include didactic sessions, reflective writing exercises, guided meditation practices, small group and whole class discussions. Also included will be student presentations of assigned research articles and educational videos.

ASSESSMENT:
Evaluations will be based on attendance, quality of participation in the daily zoom sessions, presentations of assigned articles and videos, and a final written essay.

REQUIRED READING:
Reading materials will be provided during the course for discussions in class. No reading prior to attending the course is required.

ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION:

Program Director: Marcelo Bento Soares, PhD
Telephone: 309-671-3414
Email: peoriarotations@uic.edu

Duration: 2 Weeks
Night Call: No
Students Accepted: Min: 8 Max: 30