Program In Medical Humanities And Arts - UCI College Of Medicine

Through my patients' stories, I learn how and
why people suffer, and why they heal
- Harriet Squier, M.D.

What Is The Program In Medical Humanities And Arts At UCI College Of Medicine?

The UCI-COM medical humanities and arts curricular initiative is a program designed to integrate arts and humanities-based materials into medical education. To date, the initiative has developed both required and elective curriculum in all four years of medical school and in two of our residency programs.

Activities include humanities readings coordinated with the Patient Doctor course; point of view writing exercises to explore the patient experience of illness; two humanities selectives (literature and medicine and creative writing for medical students) offered in the preclinical years; creative projects related to patient encounters as part of the third year Medicine and Pediatric clerkships; humanities readings linked to Family Medicine clerkship clinical vignettes; humanities consultations for students enrolled in the fourth year track "Through the Patient's Eyes;" and a fourth year Humanities elective paralleling the Research elective option.

Humanities readings and discussions have also been integrated into the Family Medicine and Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation residencies. Working with the Office of Medical Education, the program organized the 2001 Tamkin Symposium, addressing the topic "The Role of Humanities in Medical Education." The program also sponsors Plexus, a student-initiated journal of arts and humanities that publishes the work of members of the COM community.

The program in medical humanities has received funding from a HRSA training grant in Family Medicine; and from the UCI-COM Office of Medical Education. Johanna Shapiro, Ph.D., a professor in the Department of Family Medicine, is director of the program in medical humanities and arts for the College of Medicine.