Training in palliative care: a chance for medicine?

The technicoscientific concept of disease largely dominates medical training. Recognizing the pertinence of this model, palliative care specialists attempt to construct a practical approach to care which is not limited by implementation of scientific rationality. In palliative care, patients' complaints, interpreted initially within the framework of an evidence-based process, should take on a broader more existential dimension. In order to reach this goal, we propose several potentially useful approaches for training in palliative care. During the medical school curriculum, the student becomes aware that medical practice is at the center of inherent temporal and spatial tensions counterbalancing the objective body and the subjective being, scientific reasoning and practical care, displacement and recognition of limitations, individual responsibility and interdisciplinary teamwork. Training in palliative care would be helpful in coping with these paradoxical situations linking them with the fundamental triad of technicoscientific rationality, human relations, and ethical considerations. In this optic, training in palliative care could be an exceptional opportunity for medical training, repositioning medicine in its posture linking science and existence.