Mindfulness, a non-cognitive ability, is characterized as the awareness that arises from intentionally paying attention to the present moment without being influenced by value judgments. The importance of medical students acquiring mindfulness skills has been highlighted to encompass 1) a mindful response to patients, 2) an appropriate response to their own stress, 3) developing resilience as clinicians and faculty, and 4) cultivating better clinical decision-making skills. This paper will provide an overview of mindfulness, including its history and introduction into medical education, particularly students’ education for health care providers, and will present recent findings on the effectiveness of mindfulness and the challenges associated with it.

The Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences at McGill University in Canada there has always been an exploration of effective curriculum development that adapts to new eras and aims to encourage medical students to understand how to enhance patients' well-being. In particular, the current MDCM curriculum, which launched in 2013, offers impressive programs at a conceptual level and at a curricular level. These programs explicate to students two roles for physicians who wish to place their patient's wellbeing at the center of their work: professional and healing. This article introduces the history of curriculum development in the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences at McGill University and explores how universities in Japan can develop healing curricula in each context.

Mindfulness can be defined as awareness of physical and psychological processes in a nonjudgmental way. The purpose of adapting the ideas of mindfulness in health professions education is twofold. First, mindfulness education can develop stress management skills and self-care ability. Consequently, it can promote personal and professional identity formation. Second, mindfulness education can urge future healthcare professionals to improve the quality of patient care. Thus, this article will present practical reports from three medical schools that introduced mindfulness education for developing stress management skills and improving patient care and then discuss how universities can establish mindfulness education for future healthcare professions.

Whole Person Care education at McGill University aims to develop competent and compassionate physicians who can relate as a whole person to facilitate healing and provide better medical care to their patients. A step-by-step approach is adopted for the education throughout the four-year curriculum. It includes classes, experiential learning in small groups (20 students), simulation education, and panel discussions. It promotes interactive and unique experiential learning through a variety of exercises and works, and aims at transformational learning. It is essential to develop an attitude of being as a whole person, learning to be mindful and aware of the present moment (self, other and context).

Whole Person Care is educated for medical students as the core curriculum at McGill University. The core of Mindful Medical Practice Course aims to provide students with the experience of moving from "not knowing" to "knowing" and "realizing" to cultivate excellent clinicians who "actualize it." We outline mindful awareness and clinical congruence as the core concepts of the course. Students learn it through a variety of exercises and works. They will deepen their awareness of physical sensations, thoughts and emotions in daily life and practice Whole Person Care with congruence stance.

Physicians are expected to listen and respond to their suffering patients. But how should they respond to the suffering of patients with illnesses that they themselves have not experienced?　The scope of palliative care has expanded to emphasize the provision of palliative care to patients with "SERIOUS ILLNESS," regardless of whether or not they are cured. In addition to cancer, physicians have had to deal with the suffering of patients with heart failure, respiratory failure, cerebrovascular disease, etc., but their treating physicians are still clueless about how to face their suffering and how to respond to their suffering. Whole Person Care is a systematic educational program to enable people to face their suffering patients by helping them to adjust to their own condition. This paper provides an overview of "Responding to Patient Suffering".

To improve resident performance in clinical practice, the R2C2 model was developed for supervisors who need to guide their residents’ reflection. It consists of four stages: Relationship building, exploring Reactions, exploring Content, and Coaching. It has been shown to effectively engage residents in reflective, goal-oriented discussions and in developing a Learning Change Plan with their supervisors. This paper introduces the Japanese translated version of the model and the evidence of its use.

This study examined whether medical students were able to consider themselves to have practiced patient-centered team medicine through the practice of small group IPE. Undergraduate medical, pharmacy, and nursing students during Clinical Clerkship were asked to complete case-based clinical reasoning and treatment/nursing planning in small groups, and a questionnaire was administered to the IPE. The medical students felt that they were able to practice clinical reasoning and treatment planning, the pharmacy students felt that they were able to propose countermeasures against side effects of treatment, and the nursing students felt that they were able to provide necessary information to the medical team and practice patient-centered medicine with the medical team.　Each department had different objectives they considered when practicing team-based medicine. It is important to incorporate each of these elements in IPE.

This paper outlines the essentials that each organizer of Faculty and Staff Development (FSD) programs in Health Professions Education should focus on when designing a program. The essentials are as follows: the reasons for studying at FDS, the place of practice, content, participants, peers, location, methods, timing, and evidence of learning. These will also help FSD participants think about their perspectives when they choose to participate in the program. It is hoped that more people will get involved in Health Professions Education to increase their knowledge and spice up their daily teaching practice. It is also hoped that those who complete the course will become Faculty Developers in their own areas and professions, revitalizing health professions education and cooperatively increasing the presence of Japanese Health Professions Education.