Introduction to Medical Humanities Why study medicine Individual

Introduction to Medical Humanities

Why study medicine? • Individual • Family • Society

What is medicine • Science • Arts

Learning objectives • • Physicians must be altruistic Physicians must be knowledgeable Physicians must be skillful Physicians must be dutiful Medical School Objectives Project Association of American Medical Colleges

What is humanities • Systematic forms of study concerned with recording and interpreting human experience. • Human body as intertwining of natural and existential dimensions • Typically include literature, history, philosophy, ethics, arts

What is medical humanities • An interdisciplinary recording and interpreting of human experiences of illness, disability, medicine and health care • What unifies diverse disciplines: reflect the human experiences of medicine, seen through the humanities.

Windows to view medicine • Literature and arts: appreciate metaphors people use to convey their experiences 培養觀察力與想像力 • History: evolution of contemporary medicine, draw on the past to reflect on the present and gauge the future, history taking • Philosophy: meaning of life

UCL center • To raise awareness of medical humanities as an academic discipline • Medical humanities is an interdisciplinary, and increasingly international endeavor that draws on the creative and intellectual strengths of diverse disciplines, including literature, art, creative writing, drama, film, music, philosophy, ethical decision making, anthropology, and history, in pursuit of medical educational goal.

Educational objectives • • • to connect with, or appreciate, the perspective of all those affected by illness: the person who is ill, the persons who love them, and the professionals involved in their care to facilitate reflection on the physician’s own practice, on its strengths and weaknesses, so that he or she can build on the former and address the latter to provide both cultural and historical perspectives on illness and health care

Search for meaning • No need is so compelling as the need we all feel for our lives to make sense, to have meaning. We will tolerate almost any degree of austerity or risk in this indomitable quest for meaning. Futurist and strategic thinker, Willis Harman

Career Example • Wayne Lewis was general practitioner who escaped the pressures of clinical medicine through literature (novels and poetry). He was frustrated by the divided intellectual life. Gradually, he started to use literature to teach medical students in discussion of medical ethics. After he completed an MA in medical humanities at Swansea, he got interested in philosophy of science and theology. This opened up new horizons and allowed him to reflect on his clinical activities in all sorts of unexpected ways. Practically, he was able to incorporate discussion of religious issues, particularly surrounding bereavement, into his practice. He became a lecturer teaching literature and philosophy to medical students at the University of Wales College of Medicine, and took up a post of lecturer in medical humanities at Swansea, teaching the MA course.

Literature and Medicine: Pathography & Illness Narrative Yue-Joe Lee M. D. College of Medicine National Taiwan University

If I were a freshman again: I would try to equip myself with a strong language and reading skill.

If I were a freshman again: I would develop an effective method of self-learning which will enable me to keep growing as long as I live.

If I were a freshman again: I would cultivate my intellectual capability, to observe keenly, think logically, judge correctly, and decide wisely. I especially would try to strengthen my ability to discover general principle governing all the phenomena I am observing.

If I were a freshman again: I would develop the habit of reading books on broad subjects, including those beyond my own specialty.

If I were a freshman again: I would pick up my role model, approach and learn from him(her) as much as I can, like a sponge soaking up water.

If I were a freshman again, I will learn how to use my time more efficiently.

If I were a freshman again, I will try to be a person whose deeds meet his words.

Learning Objectives • 醫學院評鑑委員會 http: //www. nhri. org. tw/nhri_org/mc/home. htm • Association of American Medical Colleges Medical School Objective Project http: //www. aamc. org/meded/msop 1. pdf • Can. MEDS 2000 Project http: //rcpsc. medical. org/publications/index. php • Liaison Committee on Medical Education http: //www. lcme. org/functions 2004 june. pdf • Australian Medical Council