The University of Ottawa has introduced mandatory meditation sessions into its medical school curriculum. The curriculum’s developer Heather MacLean says that the change aims to help students improve their mental health and decision making. “Medical students have to acquire and absorb and assimilate a huge amount of information over four years, so understandably they get quite stressed,” says MacLean. “A little bit of stress is not bad in medical students—it can actually enhance performance—but a lot of stress is a bad thing, and can actually lead to student burnout.” MacLean also said that the response from students so far has been “overwhelmingly positive,” although there have been some students who have said they would rather spend their time studying.
CBC | Maclean’s