The current study aimed to shed light on how medical education deals with end-of-life issues and death, and on students' related concerns and suggestions. This qualitative study was based on the narratives of medical students and medical residents at the Federal University in Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil. Existential phenomenology, Gadamer's Hermeneutics, and Habermas' Theory of Communicative Action provided the philosophical basis for the narratives' production and interpretation. Two methodological strategies were combined: in-depth interviews and workshops using projective role-playing activities. Students and residents reported a scarcity of models and poor personal experience in coping with the death of patients. The ancient Greek myth of Quiron expresses the participants' search for conceptual models to help them deal with their vulnerabilities and increase their own potential
Death; Medical Education; Medical Students; Medical Residents; Qualitative Research