Humanities in medical education

The section ‘From other journals’ in the January-March 1997 issue (Issues in Medical Ethics Vol. 5, No. 1) contained a reference to the introduction of the humanities into medical education. Specifically, the item mentioned the use of poetry on medical rounds with residents, as described by Horowitz in The Lancet 1996: 347: 447-449.

While Dr. Horowitz’s efforts are laudable and no doubt of value to his residents, readers of your journal should be aware that what Dr. Horowitz describes is extremely modest and limited compared to the extensive and sophisticated humanities curricula that have been firmly integrated into many U. S. medical schools for thirty years.

Indeed, the first such programme at any medical sohool was introduced at the Penn State University College of Medicine, where a full academic Department of Humanities was established in 1967. Since that time, the disciplines of the medical humanities — ethics, law, literature, cultural studies, history, philosophy, and religious studies — have been added to the faculties and required curricula at a large number of schools.

Your readers will find the best current review of the state of the art in the humanities in medical education in a special issue of the journal Academic Medicine, Vol. 70, No. 9 (September, 1995). The principal professional society for teachers and scholars in the medical humanities, with over 800 members, is the Society for Health and Human Values, 6728 Old McLean Village Drive, McLean, Virginia 22101) U S A (E-mail: shhv@aol.com). All interested persons would be welcome to join. I certainly hope this information will be of interest.