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In patient rooms and family living rooms across Central Texas, students from Baylor University are learning a lesson that can’t be taught in a textbook: caring for patients at the end of life is an essential part of medicine.

For more than 20 years, Providence Hospice has partnered with Baylor University to provide hands-on experiences for students preparing for careers in healthcare and social services. The collaboration has included volunteer roles, social work internships, and a supervised hospice care course within Baylor’s Medical Humanities program.

For pre-med and medical students enrolled in the supervised hospice care course, they shadow Providence Hospice interdisciplinary hospice team members, serve as one-on-one patient companions, observe home visits, and participate in guided reflection about compassionate care.

The program is believed to be among the few academic partnerships of its kind nationwide, offering sustained, hands-on hospice experience integrated directly into an undergraduate curriculum. 

Sonya Wilson, Volunteer Coordinator with Providence Hospice, co-teaches the course alongside Dr. Levi Durham, Postdoctoral Teaching Fellow at Baylor University.

“These students walk away with a deeper understanding of what it truly means to care for the whole patient, physically, emotionally, and spiritually,” Wilson said. “We want them to see that death is not a failure of medicine. Dying with dignity can be a beautiful gift we give to our patients and their families.”

Dr. Durham said the experience is designed to help students develop compassion and empathy while learning how to communicate with future patients about their values and goals of care. He also hopes the course helps students recognize that caring for the dying, a group often overlooked in healthcare, is an important part of many medical professions.