Medical Humanities Education Research Articles

Analysis and Countermeasures of Humanistic Quality Education on Stomatology Medical Colleges and Universities

According to the new development situation of higher medical education and oral medicine, draw lessons from international oral medical humanities quality education system to update education concept. To explore the problems existing in the oral medical students humanities quality education, and give the corresponding method and strategy through system, scientific, comprehensive and the whole process of evaluation about higher humanity quality education of medical college. Professional oral medical humanism quality education curriculum innovation and practice was to provide guidance and advice for the oral medical humanities education.

A study on the construction and cultivation of medical students' lifelong learning ability under the "Three-orientation" framework

The professional quality training of oriented personnel training mode is one of the three core, which requires medical students to have lifelong learning ability. This study mainly describes the proposed concept of lifelong learning ability, expounds the necessity of lifelong learning ability, and analyzes the connotation, objective and strategies of improving the medical students' lifelong learning ability under the framework of oriented medical talents training mode. The training strategy has been discussed mainly from five aspects such as strengthening medical humanistic education, creating a lifelong learning atmosphere in campus, optimizing teaching methods, reform the course of development and employ-ment reforming the course of career development and employment guidance, reforming the teaching of medical literature retrieval course and establishing the personal growth archives. Key words: Three-orientation; Life-long learning ability; Training objective; Training strategy

Managing Complex Medication Regimens.

This article is the first in a series, Supporting Family Caregivers: No Longer Home Alone, published in collaboration with the AARP Foundation. Results of focus groups conducted as part of the AARP Foundation's No Longer Home Alone video project supported evidence that family caregivers aren't being given the information they need to manage the complex care regimens of their family members. This series of articles and accompanying videos aims to help nurses provide caregivers with the tools they need to manage their family member's medications. Each article explains the principles nurses should consider and reinforce with caregivers and is accompanied by a video for the caregiver to watch. The first video can be accessed at http://links.lww.com/AJN/A74.

Enhancing the Clinical Reasoning Skills of Postgraduate Students in Internal Medicine Through Medical Nonfiction and Nonmedical Fiction Extracurricular Books

ObjectiveTo improve the clinical reasoning skills of postgraduate students in internal medicine through 2 kinds of extracurricular books: medical nonfiction and nonmedical fiction. MethodsClinical reasoning is difficult to define, understand, observe, teach, and measure. This is an educational innovation under an experimental framework based on a cognitive intervention grounded in constructivist and cognitivist theories. This study was conducted from June 1, 2014, through May 31, 2015. It was a pre-post, randomized, controlled, prospective, mixed-methods, small-group study. The intervention was through medical nonfiction and nonmedical fiction books. The process was structured to ensure that the students would read the material in phases and reflect on them. Clinical reasoning (pretests and posttests) was quantitatively assessed using the Diagnostic Thinking Inventory (DTI) and clinical reasoning exercises (CREs) and their assessment using a rubric. A qualitative design was used, and face-to-face semistructured interviews were conducted. ResultsPosttest total scores (DTI=188.92; CREs=53.92) were higher for the study group after the intervention compared with its own pretest scores (DTI=165.25; CREs=41.17) and with the pretest (DTI=159.27; CRE=40.73) and posttest (DTI=166.91; CREs=41.18) scores of the control group. Interviews with the study group confirmed that the intervention was acceptable and useful in daily practice. ConclusionWe introduced, evaluated, and proved an approach to teaching-learning clinical reasoning based on the assumption that the clinical reasoning skills of postgraduate students in internal medicine can be enhanced through 2 kinds of extracurricular books and that fun as well as interest will enhance learning. This study is not only about teaching-learning clinical reasoning but also about the humanities in medical education.

Patient–physician trust in China: a workshop summary

BackgroundPatient–physician mistrust has become deeply embedded in medical clinics within a wide variety of settings, including many in China. The purpose of this research was to develop a series of actionable policy recommendations to rebuild patient–physician trust in China. MethodsOur interdisciplinary group included experts in medicine, public health, philosophy, ethics, law, regulation, China studies, anthropology, sociology, and communications. Recommendations were identified by team members and presented at a two-day workshop at the Harvard Center, Shanghai, China. The group divided into three teams (medical education, ethics and law, and healthcare systems) in order to revise and finalise the recommendations. FindingsWe identified a total of 18 recommendations focused on medical schools, ethical guidance, legal systems, and health systems to rebuild patient-physician trust. Medical education recommendations included a requirement for medical humanities as a core component, promotion of experiential learning and community–medical school partnerships, and improvement of evaluation of medical humanities education. Ethical and legal recommendations included encouragement of more transparency in doctor practices and the healthcare system, creating laws to promote mandatory medical error reporting, and acceleration of the development of neutral procedures for recording and resolving medical disputes. Healthcare systems recommendations included promoting healthcare systems that facilitate and acknowledge caregiving, transitioning from red packets (gifts to physicians) and towards higher physician salaries, strengthening primary healthcare systems, and establishment of non-punitive systems for error reporting in hospitals. InterpretationSeveral educational, legal, ethical, and healthcare system reforms to rebuild patient–physician trust are feasible. Our recommendations go beyond the healthcare sector alone, suggesting that policy responses within education, legal, and ethical norms are also critical. The presence of mistrust should not be misconstrued as an errant medical system, but rather as an opportunity and a responsibility to rebuild patient–physician trust. Our recommendations are relevant within the Chinese context and in other transitioning healthcare systems. FundingHarvard China Fund and the China Medical Board

Opening our eyes to a critical approach to medicine: The humanities in medical education

This paper examines a recent medical graduate’s perspective on how undergraduate education tends to focus on imparting medical knowledge with little reference to the human aspects in clinical medicine. This is problematic because medicine is both about people and practiced by people. Students often have minimal exposure to the humanities prior to and in medical school and are frequently unaware of the societal trends that impact their view of medical practice. Familiarity with the humanities is a crucial means to understanding human nature, recognizing personal sociocultural biases, and practicing patient-centered medicine. This gap in knowledge may be due to the increase in medical information and optimistic ideologies related to medical progress. Philosophical paradigms and historical examples are considered to demonstrate the relevance of both fields in the humanities in understanding the role of moral human agents in applying medical knowledge. Educational changes in the humanities are proposed as a potential solution to our current deficits. Informal changes include mentorship relationships and shifting the general underpinning attitude in medical culture. Formal changes include specific courses teaching a critical approach to medicine. Changes in competency-based education and admissions are also suggested. These amendments are proposed to practice a fuller, truly human medicine.

Narrative medical enlightenment on medical humanities quality education in China

Narrative medicine has brought new ideas to medical humanities education, and its connotation is suitable to Undergraduate Medical Education Standards-Clinical Medicine(Trial). By analyz-ing the proposal and development of narrative medicine, its foundation and core, its programs and methods, as well as its forms and values, the author deepened the understanding of narrative medicine. And through the following four pathways including strengthening the renewal of ideas and concepts on medical humanities quality education, promoting the diversification of teaching ways and methods of medical humanities education, enhancing the effect of early exposure to clinical medical students, opening the path of integration narrative medicine and evidence-based medicine, the author analyzed narrative medical enlightenment on medical humanities quality education in China. Key words: Narrative medicine; Undergraduate Medical Education Standards-Clinical Medicine(Trial); Medical humanities education

The Acute Care Assessment Tool: ‘Pharmacy ACAT’

The Acute Care Assessment Tool (ACAT) was developed as a workplace-based assessment (WPBA) for trainee performance whilst working in acute medicine. Here, we discuss the multi-professional potential of ACAT through a pilot with foundation and senior hospital pharmacists. The pharmacy profession is engaging meaningfully with foundation training for pharmacists akin to doctor foundation training, and has launched a post-foundation recognition scheme as a route to advanced generalist or specialist practice. Foundation training has included the adoption of familiar WPBA, such as the mini-clinical evaluation exercise (mini-CEX) and case-based discussion (CbD). However, mini-CEX and CbD are 'snapshot' assessments, and we identified a need for the assessment of practice over a short period of time. A local director of medical education suggested ACAT. We identified a need for the assessment of practice over a short period of time INNOVATION: Permission was gained from the Joint Royal Colleges of Physicians to adapt the ACAT to form the 'Pharmacy ACAT'. Adaptations were based on the two current Royal Pharmaceutical Society competency frameworks used for foundation and post-foundation practice. The 'Pharmacy ACAT' was piloted across three acute hospitals (known as 'Trusts') in London for foundation trainees, and was found to be broadly acceptable in terms of time and was valued for feedback, particularly for foundation pharmacy trainees. Senior pharmacists at the single pilot site were more sceptical. We believe that the 'Pharmacy ACAT' should be considered for routine use in pharmacy foundation training in hospital and community practice as it 'plugs a gap' in the current scheme of WPBA, by allowing the assessment of a short period of practice as opposed to a snapshot. It also has potential for use at undergraduate level.

Progress integrating medical humanities into medical education: a global overview.

The article reviews the most recent developments in integrating humanities into medical education. Global implications and future trends are illustrated. The main concern of medical humanities education is teaching professionalism; one important aspect that has emerged is the goal of nurturing emotion through reflexivity. Relating effectively to all stakeholders and being sensitive to inequitable power dynamics are essential for professional social accountability in modern medical contexts. Mediating doctors' understanding of the clinical encounter through creative arts and narrative is part of most recent pedagogic innovations aimed at motivating learners to become empowered, engaged and caring clinicians. Scenario-based and discursive-oriented evaluations of such activities should be aligned with the medical humanities' problem-based learning curriculum. Medical humanities education fosters professional reflexivity that is important for achieving patient-centered care. Countering insufficient empathy with reflective professionalism is an urgent challenge in medical education; to answer this need, creative arts and narrative understanding have emerged as crucial tools of medical humanities education. To ensure competent professional identity formation in the era of translational medicine, medical humanities programs have adopted scenario-based assessments through inclusion of different voices and emphasizing personal reflection and social critique.

Consultant trainers could face increased workload under junior contract

Consultants who supervise trainees could see an increase in their workload under the proposed new contract for junior doctors in England, doctors have warned. Under the proposed new terms and conditions for junior doctors, educational supervisors, who oversee the education of trainees, will be required to agree a personalised work schedule with their trainees and regularly discuss their progress.1 In changes to the way that junior doctors’ hours are monitored, educational supervisors will also be required to process exception reports submitted by trainees who have worked too many hours, and discuss what action is required. Nirmal Kumar, director of medical education at Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh NHS Foundation Trust, said that the …

The practice and exploration of improving the teaching quality of clinical practice under the background of the outstanding doctor training

In 2012, the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Health jointly issued the notice of implementation of the outstanding doctor training plan, which stressed the need to identify the dominant position of students in learning, and strengthened the training of medical ethics and clinical practice ability of medical students. Our hospital actively explored how to improve the teaching quality of clinical practice under the culture background of excellent doctor education. We constructed undergraduate clinical practice teaching management framework of school /secondary college — educational department /teaching and research section — three disciplines / subspeciality, established clinical skills teaching and research sec-tion, cleared responsibilities of all levels, improved the clinical teaching management system, and strengthened the practice teaching and medical students' clinical skills training, and standardized teaching rounds and lectures. We also promoted the teaching and learning through clinical skills competition, and at the same time, we paid attention to the cultivation of students' medical humanities and medical science spirit, so that students could obtain better clinical practice effect, and promote the development of the reform and development of hospital education and teaching. Key words: Outstanding doctor training; Clinical practice; Teaching management; Clinical skills training; Medical humanities education

The exploration of curriculum system of humanistic education with the whole process and multidis-ciplinary integration for medical students

Based on the analyses of the status of humanistic medicine education both at home and abroad, the article emphasized the need for the implement of medical humanities education with the whole process and multidis-ciplinary integration. In combination with practice, from the three modules of the explicit implicit curriculum and integrated curriculum, the author discussed the specific connotation of the whole course of medical humanities education. The article also summarized the main points of the course system in teaching practice from the aspects of training objectives, teaching staff construction, teaching methods improvement and innovation, and humanistic quality evaluation of medical students. Key words: Medical student; Humanistic education; Curriculum system; Whole course; Multidisciplinary integration

Mapping the landscape or exploring the terrain? Progressing humanism in medical education.

Mapping the landscape or exploring the terrain? Progressing humanism in medical education.

Rethinking research in the medical humanities: a scoping review and narrative synthesis of quantitative outcome studies.

The rise of medical humanities teaching in medical education has introduced pressure to prove efficacy and utility. Review articles on the available evidence have been criticised for poor methodology and unwarranted conclusions. To support a more nuanced discussion of how the medical humanities work, we conducted a scoping review of quantitative studies of medical humanities teaching. Using a search strategy involving MEDLINE, EMBASE and ERIC, and hand searching, our scoping review located 11045 articles that referred to the use of medical humanities teaching in medical education. Of these, 62 studies using quantitative evaluation methods were selected for review. Three iterations of analysis were performed: descriptive, conceptual, and discursive. Descriptive analysis revealed that the medical humanities as a whole cannot be easily systematised based on simple descriptive categories. Conceptual analysis supported the development of a conceptual framework in which the foci of the arts and humanities in medical education can be mapped alongside their related epistemic functions for teaching and learning. Within the framework, art functioned as expertise, as dialogue or as a means of expression and transformation. In the discursive analysis, we found three main ways in which the relationship between the arts and humanities and medicine was constructed as, respectively, intrinsic, additive and curative. This review offers a nuanced framework of how different types of medical humanities work. The epistemological assumptions and discursive positioning of medical humanities teaching frame the forms of outcomes research that are considered relevant to curriculum decision making, and shed light on why dominant review methodologies make some functions of medical humanities teaching visible and render others invisible. We recommend the use of this framework to improve the rigor and relevance of future explorations of the efficacy and utility of medical humanities teaching.

Bench to bedside: medical humanities education and assessment as a translational challenge.

Bench to bedside: medical humanities education and assessment as a translational challenge.

Professor Sami Timimi: Beyond diagnosis: Why we don’t need diagnosis to deliver high quality effective services

Professor Sami Timimi, Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist & Director of Medical Education in NHS Lincolnshire.

"I wanted to communicate my feelings freely": a descriptive study of creative responses to enhance reflection in palliative medicine education.

BackgroundThe recent growth of arts and humanities in medical education shows recognition that these disciplines can facilitate a breadth of thinking and result in personal and professional growth. However creative work can be a challenge to incorporate into a busy curriculum. Offering the option of creative media as a way of reflecting is an example of how this can occur. This study aimed to examine the medical student response to being given this option to explore a visit to a patient in a hospice.MethodsThis was a mainly qualitative study. In the 2012 academic programme, the class of 86 students were given the option of using a creative medium to explore their responses to both the visit and their developing communication skills. Students were required to write an accompanying commentary if submitting the creative work option. Sixty-four percent of the class chose a creative medium e.g. poetry, visual art, narrative prose, music. These students were asked to take part in research including completing a short on-line survey and consenting for their creative work and commentaries to be further examined. The creative works were categorised by genre and the commentaries analysed using inductive thematic analysis.ResultsSeventeen students completed the on-line survey and fifteen consented to their work being used for this research. Thematic analysis of the student commentaries revealed the following themes: effectiveness for expressing emotion or ideas that are difficult to articulate; engaging and energising quality of the task; time for reflection; flexibility for individual learning styles and therapeutic value.ConclusionsTeaching the art of communicating at end-of-life is challenging especially when it involves patients, and teachers want to ensure students gain as much as possible from the experience. Offering the option to use creative media means that students can choose a medium for reflection that best suits them as individuals and that can enable them to benefit as much as possible from their experience.

Dutch Erasmus University's medical humanities education and its enlightenment

Dutch medical humanities education curriculum framework covers many disciplines which satisfies the professional requirements. The design and materials for teaching are based on re-search and practice driven; teachers' cooperation is full of experts from transnational, trans-regional, interdisciplinary, theory and practice. the Dutch university medical humanities provide a reference for China's medical humanities education curriculum reform as follows: the goal of medical humanities ed-ucation is for the medical practice but not intriguing sideline; the whole process of the students' participation mechanism should be full of support, supervision and examination; and the source of teachers should be multi-interdisciplinary and also from practice. Key words: Medical humanities; Curriculum; Reform; Netherlands

When I say … the medical humanities in medical education.

When I say … the medical humanities in medical education.

Humanities in medical education: between reduction and integration

Reductive logic has been a major reasoning style in development of modern biomedical sciences. However, when "medical humanities" is developed by reductive reasoning, integrative and holistic values of humanities tend to be weakened. In that sense, identity and significance of "medical humanities" continue to be controversial despite of its literal clarity. Humanities in medical education should be established by strengthening humanistic and socialistic aspects of regular medical curriculum as well as developing individual "medical humanities" programs.