Table 2.

Thematic Analysis With Supporting Quotes From the Clerkship Preceptors’ Focus Group

Theme	Supporting Quotes
Identifying with families	Our last group was moved to tears…usually they can identify with someone in their family. Their own family, yeah… Grandpa’s dying or…other members they’ve taken care of somebody in the family for many years. I think they can really identify with it.
Recognition and surprise about needs and concerns of caregivers	Students I’ve talked to, if it doesn’t remind them of someone in their family, it’s kind of eye-opening for them to see, to realize all that is involved in caregiving. I think it’s very believable and that’s kind of the feedback we’ve got [from students]. It doesn’t seem scripted. I think they buy into real quickly that there’s value to this. It’s real. I think it gives them an opportunity to see those distinct different scenarios that happen. The thing that I’ve noticed is that the more positive comments we’ve had from the students, I think, reflect a kind of a surprise…before…they focus on the family as the difficult family… family seems to get in the way of them and what they need to do on their clinical rotations. So now they really get to see it through the caregiver’s eyes, through the family’s eyes… and it’s like... you never really paid that much attention to what they really did, how important they are. So that’s been a pretty constant feedback we’ve had at the debriefing. It surprises them.
Readiness for film	So I think it worked pretty good for the second [hospice] visit. I think all the butterflies get worked out the first visit and they’re just trying to get used to what is going on. There’s a little more of a comfort level, the family knows them the second time around a little bit. So I think they are more able to pay attention to the family part of it. They usually see it on the second visit. And frankly, you know, I think that’s fine. You know, they can bring their own… predispositions and then have that illuminated by a more sophisticated vision and see what kind of merger they can make of this.
Timing within family medicine rotation	Maybe I’m biased for being family medicine but I think it really fits well for the family medicine clerkship because I think when they leave the hospice part of it they’re surrounded by a milieu where everybody is paying attention to them—the family and the caregivers. Then they go to clinic and they see the whole spectrum of family and the continuity of care thing. So I think it is important that it’s provided in a setting that once they leave that hospice mourning that if something pops up they can find a preceptor or physician or staff that is kind of really focused on the family, also. To support all those questions that come up later on as they are trying to process it.
Discussion guide helpful in beginning	It’s a good resource to fall back on… if students aren’t bringing anything up on their own. Each group is so different sometimes it goes directions you wouldn’t expect based upon that particular family, that particular student and… then it triggers something else… it covers the bases pretty well. I probably used it maybe the first or second time doing it. But I really kind of pull questions out based on the [stories in the film]…. and sometimes it’s based on… situations [students] are going through.