Will AETCOM Resurrect Empathy in Medical Profession? A Lost Touch of Compassionate Communication

Abstract

To make the existing Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) curriculum more effective as per the healthcare needs of the nation, the Medical Council of India (MCI) has taken a bold step by proposing new teaching-learning approaches including, a structured longitudinal program on attitude, ethics, and communication, which is named as the Attitude, Ethics and Communication Module (AETCOM). Intervention like AETCOM is required because the fragmental, ignored and traditional approach of learning empathy and communication was not standardised nor effective. This lead to devastated doctor patient relationship resulting in rising number of medicolegal cases in the scenario. It’s been two years since the introduction of the module and many studies have been conducted to analyse the effectiveness of the same. However, some questions still remain unanswered, such as- Will this introduction of humanities in medicine infuse values and art of medicine with ever-growing science? Will it be successful in inculcating probity in Indian medical graduate? If no, then what needs to be done to get a better outcome for the same. Authors want to spread awareness by sparking curiosity in both medical and general population through this article and in the process, make efforts wants to find out improvements to be done right now to ensure we get good doctors in the future.

Keywords

• attitude ethics and communication module
• humanities in medicine
• medical council of india
• national medical commission