Course Descriptions

Medical Humanities 3rd and 4th Year Elective

Jena Berg, MS3
Johanna Shapiro, Ph.D., course director

During the four-year curriculum at UCI, medical students are exposed to aspects of medical humanities primarily through portions of the Patient-Doctor class. The administration clearly recognizes the importance of humanities in medical education as a tool to strengthen students' communicative powers as future physicians and deepen their appreciation of the patients' experience of illness. However, the exposure students currently have is relatively limited. Until this year, missing from the curriculum was an opportunity for students to engage in and creatively develop a specific humanities-based project.

Throughout their medical education, students are actively encouraged to participate in research projects. Taking an active role in designing an investigation, working with an experienced laboratory scientist, explaining the results - these are all rightfully thought of as valuable educational experiences in the important adjunct role of the sciences in medicine. So too should the art of medicine be recognized in medical education. Comparable to the category 'Research', 'Medical Humanities' is intended to indicate a broad range of subjects and activities; the study of history, anthropology, creative writing, and literature to name a few. With these topics as the focus for study, students can explore and engage sophisticated issues in medicine. As with research, an exploration of topics in humanities can become a central mechanism for understanding medicine and science.

There is precedent to offer credit for such an experience. Other medical schools offer humanities electives for students during their 3rd and 4th years. By offering an individually tailored credit, UCI has the unique opportunity to sponsor a wide-range of topics and projects, all developed and dependent on student initiative. This approach will stimulate innovative applications of humanities to areas of the curriculum not normally considered conducive to humanities input. As with the current research elective offered to students, students will be responsible to identify and develop their project and recruit an appropriate advisor, such as Dr. Shapiro, or other UCI faculty from the relevant departments..

What might a humanities credit look like? Following is a non-inclusive list of possible ideas.

-Engaging in original historical research on topics in medicine.
-Writing project about the experience of being a medical student.
-Using photography/art/drama to explore the experience of a specified number of patients during a particular 3rd or 4th year rotation.
-Working with UCIMC's patient education department to help develop patient educational materials.
-Developing narrative and arts-based approaches to mastery of the basic sciences in medical education.
-Developing curriculum modules for pre-clinical students focused on the patient's perspectives for various disease processes.
-Conducting and writing up in-depth narrative interviews with chronically ill or dying patients.

Not all medical students choose the same post-graduate path to an exclusively clinical career. These students need an elective credit such as this one that will give them experience in a variety of non-traditional areas. Opportunities abound for physicians who can develop new ways of conveying medical information, who can touch readers and viewers with their written experiences, who can reach patients by placing the patient's own experiences into a larger framework - essentially, physicians who are excellent communicators. Students need this humanities elective opportunity for academic credit to help them develop their own skills before graduation.

Goals of the elective:

The student will participate in a meaningful way in the initiation and progress of a humanities/creative project related to the art of medicine.
The student will understand and state the intellectual basis for developing their humanities project as an aspect of their medical education.
The student will complete a written document describing the goals and outcomes of the project in which they participated.
The student will identify an appropriate mentor, and expert in the topic of choice, who can evaluate and guide the student's work.

As with the pre-existing credit for research, the humanities electives will have strict requirements, as indicated below. These have been adapted from the current requirements for research.

Approved humanities electives will provide elective credit towards graduation requirements applicable under the "free elective" category. The student will receive a maximum of 4 weeks credit for graduation. Students should directly contact and arrange faculty involvement. Students must receive approval from the CEP prior to the beginning of the beginning of the elective. Credit will not be given if prior approval is not obtained. Participation in the elective requires a minimum of 30 work hours per week during the elective period, whether or not the student is concurrently enrolled in a clinical rotation.

If a student is concurrently enrolled in another rotation, the faculty sponsor from that rotation must agree to allow the student to participate in the humanities elective and must certify that the humanities elective will not interfere with the responsibilities of the primary rotation.

As with all rotations, credit will be granted only after the successful completion of the humanities elective. Approval of the elective does not guarantee credit. In this case, it is the Associate Dean for Curricular Affairs that will certify credit after the student and his or her mentor submits a final report.

The application must contain the following:

Introduction and explanation of the background for this project.
Discussion of the design of the project.
Notation as to whether this is a new or ongoing project.
Background, experience and degree of participation of the faculty sponsor.
Project hypothesis/title
Any appropriate IRB approval
Daily schedule of activity during the elective period.
Specific statement of what the student expects to produce from the study.
Signed statement with the faculty sponsor: "I have reviewed the humanities elective request. I agree with the information provided, especially with respect to the nature and degree of participation of the student. I believe this elective will provide the student with meaningful medical humanities experience in the service of his or her medical education."

To receive credit for the rotation, at the conclusion the student must submit a one to two page document describing the student's actual participation and productivity. This statement must be submitted to the Associate Dean of Curricular Affairs for final credit approval. The statement must be in the form of a report on the project, stating the goals and results. In addition, it must include the student's statement of his or her specific activities during the project. The student and his or her faculty mentor must sign this document. At the end of the report the faculty mentor must sign the following statement which should be typed into the report:

"I have had direct supervisory responsibility for the student named in this humanities project. The student has contributed in a meaningful manner to the conduct of the project described herein. The student has committed a minimum of 30 hours per week for (enter a number) weeks and has gained skill in (communication/composition/humanities research). The report generated herein was written by the student and I concur in its findings."