Friend for Life

Clinical Conversations

Starting in the fall of 2007, Friend for Life volunteers began participating in conversations with first-year students at the University of Louisville Medical School. A similar project began in the fall of 2009 at Galen College of Nursing.

Now, Friend for Life volunteers regularly participate in clinical conversations with Medical, Nursing and Social Work students and faculty, in an effort to improve communication and understanding of the patient and caregiver perspectives by future healthcare practitioners.

It was a great experience - I had a wonderful group of new students who asked questions and practiced their listening skills. This program is awesome - to begin it with new med students is a superb idea. They have promise to be great compassionate doctors. We need many of those. Thanks for asking for my participation. I would love to participate next year.

- Friend for Life volunteer

This was a great way to introduce students to interviewing patients, especially on difficult/emotional topics.

- University of Louisville faculty

I really liked watching the person tell their story. I found it very emotional and something that will stay with me for a long time....I feel I learned that the most important thing is to primarily focus on your patient, and always speak about their ailment with them. It's a very important thing to do to maintain that patient's trust.

- University of Louisville medical school student