The person behind the white coat: building a medical humanities core curriculum for medical students

Abstract

CONTEXT: In a healthcare environment increasingly overwhelmed by new technology, commercialism and efficiency, which leaves patients lost, unheard and discontented, medical schools are seeking to bring balance to their curricula. The introduction of the medical humanities (or health humanities) can help to broaden the understanding of the human condition – a necessity for those in the caring professions. INTERVENTION: Following four years of pilot work, a Medical Humanities Planning Group was formed to design and implement a six-year compulsory medical humanities programme for medical students. Using an outcomes-based approach to student learning, the curriculum was built around five themes - narrative medicine, culture, spirituality and healing, history of medicine, death, dying and bereavement, and humanitarianism. We present our experience of the first year of the curriculum which took place from September 2012 – May 2013 in which students explored “the person behind the white coat” through reading and writing, performance, visual arts and film. OBSERVATIONS: A variety of reflective tasks, including creative artwork and performing a re-imagined script, students enabled students to demonstrate their understanding of “the person behind the white coat.” The contribution of colleagues from all disciplines in the medical faculty, the university at large and community partners was instrumental to the success of the first year programme. DISCUSSION: A medical humanities curriculum has meaning if it is a compulsory part of the core curriculum and is assessed. It can be sustainable with a broad base of teaching support.