Medical Humanities Track

Department: MD-RHEUMATOLOGY

Paulette C Hahn M.D.

Clinical Associate Professor

Department: LB-HSC – GENERAL

Nina C Stoyan-Rosenzweig

Archivist & Sen Assoc In Libraries

Student Limit of 8

Introduction

The Medical Humanities Pathway is a formal track within the University of Florida College of Medicine curriculum. This pathway is designed to help students answer the following crucial questions:

Medical Humanities Pathway

How do the humanities inform our understanding of the human condition, especially related to sickness and health? How do the humanities help to illuminate the basis of healthcare and healthcare systems and indeed illuminate the quote, “Medicine is an art that rests on a base of science”? How does studying the humanities improve clinical skills and reflective practice?      

The rise of science and technological innovations transformed and informed healthcare since the 19^th century such that both are intimately tied with the delivery of healthcare. The experience of illness and treatments of illness are still tied to the human condition, indeed the essence of being human. Thus, understandings of what it means to have an illness or to understand the cultural and social dimensions of health increasingly are approached through the study of medical humanities, including social sciences, humanities and the arts. Additionally, the humanities help to expand clinical skills and to promote healing.

Students who enroll in this track will learn about the range of medical humanities, how they are used, and how they can expand understanding and efficacy of healthcare systems.   They will develop a broad understanding and also have the opportunity to focus their interests and talents on a more specific area of the humanities.

Overall Goals and Objectives:

Students who complete the Medical Humanities Pathway will understand the breadth of medical humanities and how the humanities are used in medical practice, medical education, healthcare, and in the larger societies. Students will have the opportunity to participate in the broader academic discourse surrounding the humanities, to understand the developing research and evidence-based trajectories of the fields, as well as to investigate the value of experiential participation in these areas.

Specific pathway objectives include the ability to demonstrate foundational understanding of:

• The range and definition of medical humanities
• How the humanities are used in different arenas of healthcare
• Contributions of individual and specific disciplines within the medical humanities
• Development of research approaches within the field
• Designing research programs and projects in the field
• Develop critical familiarity with the literature of the field
• Develop skills in teaching the medical humanities, including design of a course
• Develop a research question or project to address specific concerns or questions in the medical humanities.

Requirements

1. Develop a learning compact in collaboration with the Faculty Mentor and Course Directors that includes project objectives, action/research plan with timeline, outcomes, and assessment criteria.
2. Complete Option 1 or 2 below in consultation with the Faculty Mentor and Course Directors.
3. Submit and present final project.

Outcomes and Assessment

Students will develop a learning compact in collaboration with the Faculty Mentor and Course Directors that includes their project goals and outcomes. Project outcomes include a presentation of their project in the appropriate academic venue at a conference or in the appropriate artistic situation while students will be encouraged to publish their work.

The final project will be judged according to Glassick’s criteria for scholarship (Scholarship Assessed, 2000):

• Clear goals
• Adequate preparation
• Appropriate methods
• Significant (meaningful) results
• Effective presentation
• Reflective critique

Students also will be evaluated on their development as teachers.

Timeline for Core Components of the Health Outcomes and Policy Discovery Pathway