Medical students would face a large number of life and death patients in the future medical practice. Death education plays an important role in cultivating medical students' humanistic care and professional quality. However, there are some problems in the death education of Chinese medical students. This study investigated the knowledge reserve, attitude and practice of death education of medical students in different grades in China by means of questionnaire, and put forward corresponding countermeasures. It is found that Chinese medical students have less knowledge and practical experience in death education, and there are misunderstandings about hospice care and pain relief, as well as fear and taboo about death. This lack not only affects the professional quality and clinical practice ability of medical students, but also has a negative impact on the quality of life of patients. In order to improve the level of death education of Chinese medical students, this study puts forward several countermeasures, including strengthening the setting of death education curriculum, improving the teaching quality of teachers, carrying out practical education and multi-disciplinary cooperation. Finally, the experimental results showed that after receiving death education, the fear of death of medical students gradually decreased with the passage of time, and the fear level dropped from 5.3 to 3.0. These measures help to improve the level of death education and clinical practice ability of medical students, and improve the quality and effect of medical services.

Qijun Long, Meichun Yang, Jinyan Lan and Edreck D. Estioko. Lack of Death Education in Chinese Medical Students and Countermeasures. International Journal of Public Health and Preventive Medicine (2023), Vol. 4, Issue 1: 27-36. https://doi.org/10.38007/IJPHPM.2023.040104.

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