Embedding the humanities into medical education

Introduction: Art has played a pivotal role in the understanding and teaching of human anatomy for centuries, and the use of drawing as a teaching tool had been well documented. With the global modernization of medical education, the teaching of anatomy has diminished. We present a model of teaching anatomy through drawing, and assess its efficacy in improving students' retention of anatomical knowledge. Methods: We designed a series of four anatomy drawing workshops (upper limb, lower limb, thorax, and head & neck) for students studying medicine, dentistry, and allied science degrees. Students were only allowed to attend one of the four workshops. Workshops were delivered by medically-qualified anatomy demonstrators using a combination of "whiteboard drawing demonstrations" and "cadaveric demonstrations and drawings." A pre-and post-anatomy test consisting of 12 multiple choice questions (MCQs) and quantitative self-score questionnaires on "confidence in drawing anatomy" and "anatomical knowledge" were completed. Qualitative questionnaires on "reasons for attendance," "skills learnt," and "what improvements could be made" were also completed. Results: A total of 49 students attended the drawing workshops, the majority studied medicine (58.3%). Twenty-seven pre-and post-anatomy MCQ tests were completed, and demonstrated a significant mean improvement of 1.11 points (p = 0.001). "Confidence in drawing anatomy" and "Knowledge of anatomy" significantly improved by 43.2% and 41.4% (p = 0.001), respectively. Only 13% of students used drawing as their "main learning tool." The most commonly reported barrier in using drawing as a revision tool was "time constraints." Qualitative feedback was excellent. Students suggested that these workshops should be integrated into the core anatomy curriculum. Conclusion: Learning anatomy through drawing, is not only more engaging and fun, encourages students to visualize and better understand anatomical planes, thus, allowing them to retain anatomical knowledge easier. The two-part nature of our sessions enabled students to apply and translate the more conceptual knowledge from the "whiteboard drawing demonstration" onto the more "real-life" structures in the "prosection and cadaveric demonstration." With the decline in anatomy teaching throughout universities, most prominently dissection, drawing may offer an alternative and economical way of training students to learn anatomy.

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“…2) [23]. The literature from France suggests that drawing has proven to be an extremely effective technique of teaching anatomy [23,24].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Should drawing be incorporated into the teaching of anatomy?

Borrelli¹,

Leung²,

Morgan³

et al. 2018

J Contemp Med Edu

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“…Hence, it is necessary to add humanities to medical curricula, for consideration of moral and ethical dilemmas. To develop medical university students’ sensitivity, empathy, and understanding of human conditions from a medical humanities perspective, it is necessary to incorporate humanities and art into existing curricula to balance the largely scientific content; such lessons act as a vehicle for exploring what it means to be humane [1, 2]. …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The application of heterogeneous cluster grouping to reflective writing for medical humanities literature study to enhance students’ empathy, critical thinking, and reflective writing

Liao

Wang

2016

BMC Med Educ

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Background: To facilitate interdisciplinary collaboration and to make connections between patients' diseases and their social/cultural contexts, the study examined whether the use of heterogeneous cluster grouping in reflective writing for medical humanities literature acquisition could have positive effects on medical university students in terms of empathy, critical thinking, and reflective writing. Methods: A 15-week quasi-experimental design was conducted to investigate the learning outcomes. After conducting cluster algorithms, heterogeneous learning clusters (experimental group; n = 43) and nonheterogeneous learning clusters (control group; n = 43) were derived for a medical humanities literature study. Before and after the intervention, an Empathy Scale in Patient Care (ES-PC), a critical thinking disposition assessment (CTDA-R), and a reflective writing test were administered to both groups. Results: The findings showed that on the empathy scale, significant differences in the "behavioral empathy," "affective empathy," and overall sections existed between the post-test mean scores of the experimental group and those of the control group, but such differences did not exist in "intelligent empathy." Regarding critical thinking, there were significant differences in "systematicity and analyticity," "skepticism and well-informed," "maturity and skepticism," and overall sections. As for reflective writing, significant differences existed in "ideas," "voice and point of view," "critical thinking and representation," "depth of reflection on personal growth," and overall sections, but not in "focus and context structure" and "language and conventions." Conclusion: This study outlined an alternative for using heterogeneous cluster grouping in reflective writing about medical humanities literature to facilitate interdisciplinary cooperation to provide more humanizing medical care.

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“…The psychological world of each patient is, thus, often overlooked. Medical humanities departments have gradually become involved in medical education in an effort to balance scientific content with humanistic content, and to reintroduce humaneness into medical care (Gull, 2005). The purpose of medical humanities courses is to humanize medical care by having students learn about topics such as pain, suffering, illness, disease, aging, dying, and loss from a humanistic perspective with the intention of creating a more holistic approach to medical care (Hsu, 2005;Macnaughton, 2000).…”

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confidence: 99%

The Importance of the Medical Humanities Among Adolescents: Developing a Medical Humanities Questionnaire

Wang

2011

soc behav pers

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The purpose in this study was to develop a questionnaire measuring the subjective importance among adolescents of medical humanities issues. Based on a series of literature reviews and expert panel discussions, a questionnaire was created and completed by 460 randomly selected individuals. An exploratory factor analysis and a principal component analysis were conducted. The 19 items in the questionnaire were classified into 5 factors: professionalism, caring and empathy, patient orientation, disclosure of harm, and communication. These 5 factors accounted for 59.19% of the variance. The developed questionnaire was subsequently completed by 258 adolescents enrolled in medical science courses and 268 adolescents enrolled in other courses to see whether or not there was any significant difference between the two groups in their awareness of medical humanities. Results revealed that adolescents enrolled in medical science courses placed greater importance on these issues than did those enrolled in other courses.

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Embedding the humanities into medical education

Cited by 22 publications

References 5 publications

Should drawing be incorporated into the teaching of anatomy?

Should drawing be incorporated into the teaching of anatomy?

The application of heterogeneous cluster grouping to reflective writing for medical humanities literature study to enhance students’ empathy, critical thinking, and reflective writing

The Importance of the Medical Humanities Among Adolescents: Developing a Medical Humanities Questionnaire

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