Narrative Medicine and Medical Humanities - Syllabus
NOTE: In order to register officially for this class you must see AMY ROBERSON in the Medical Education office.
Goals of course
Summer Narrative medicine
- Explore arts and humanities as a means to relax and reduce stress
- Explore the role of narrative in improving understanding of patients and the patient experience
- Explore the role of arts and humanities in improving medical practice, eg observational skills
- Explore ways in which the humanities can improve understanding of social and cultures issues affecting health and the delivery of health care
- Explore specific issues vital to the understanding of health and the delivery of health care
Fall and Spring Narrative medicine
- Explore the role of narrative in improving understanding of patients and the patient experience
- Explore the role of arts and humanities in improving medical practice, eg observational skills
- Explore ways in which the humanities can improve understanding of social and cultures issues affecting health and the delivery of health care
- Explore specific issues vital to the understanding of health and the delivery of health care
Requirements
First and Second year Students
Students taking this course in the fall or spring of their First or Second year of medical school need to do several things in order to earn 2 credits.
- Attend a minimum of 9 monthly book, movie, and patient narrative discussions(3 of each), and 3 other events (history of medicine lecture series, etc). This means a minimum of 12 attendances. Be sure to sign in on log sheet, or contact instructor if you do not see the sheet.
- The dates of these discussions and lecture s will be posted on the online calendars. I also will send out email reminders a week prior to each discussion, and to alert you to special events.
- Participate in the discussions. If you are uncomfortable speaking up in front of a relatively large group- or find you think of great things to say after the discussion, or just want to contribute more-, there will be small group discussions meeting 3 times in the course of the semester. Please contact Nina Stoyan-Rosenzweig to schedule. If you have any questions about level of participation, also please contact me.
- Lead a group discussion or complete 2 write ups of course materials. These write ups can describe the books and movies. or the patient narratives/discussions.
Summer narrative medicine students must:
- Attend 12 sessions (distribution will be discussed in class)
- Complete a creative expression project.
- Produce 2 write ups or lead a discussion or attend 16 or more sessions.
The credits earned in this course count toward the credits required for the 4th year. A student may earn up to 4 credits by enrolling in the course for two semesters.
Logistics: copies of movies and books will be placed in the Maren Reading Room. Please be sure to sign out the material when you borrow it. Also, if you take the movie to watch the night before discussion, be sure to contact your classmates and arrange for a group viewing.
4th year Narrative Medicine Elective- Student projects
Projects (be sure to download and refer to this pdf describing project, and submit your description for approval before beginning project) must address an issue related to humane medical practice, narrative medicine and empathy, arts and medicine or medical humanities. They need not take the form of a formal, academic paper although the amount of time and intellectual effort required to complete a project should be roughly equivalent to that of a research term paper with a minimum of 10 sources. If a project takes on a life of its own and clearly will require far greater expenditure of effort, then it may be possible and in fact necessary to sign up for other credits at a different time. For instance, if students want to conduct a multiple series of surveys of fellow students throughout their medical student career or over a longer period of time, then they may need to work out a way of extending credits.
The projects will need to focus on a specific aspect of narrative medicine and in some way to demonstrate understanding of the goals and aims of narrative medicine and medical humanities. Non-UF 4th year students interested in taking this elective need to clear the elective with their school, receive approval from the UF Medical Education Office (Amy Roberson) and have their project proposal approved by the elective director before proceeding.
Areas for which a project can be shaped include:
- Empathy
- Empathy and consciousness
- Physician-patient relationship
- Cross cultural medical issues and needs
- History of medicine
- Literature and medicine
- Art/photography and medicine
- Medical training and medical school curriculum
- Reflection and reflective practice
Students shaping a project need to produce a brief description that
- Details the project and activities needed to complete it
- Describes the project goal
- Discusses how the project will help the individual student learn about narrative medicine and reflective practice
Examples of projects:
- Research UF- COM/HSC history and conduct an oral history interview.
- Prepare an art/photography exhibit for the Maren Room with related commentary or brochure and design for discussion workshop on topic.
- Design, conduct and analyze medical student survey on issues related to reflective practice/narrative medicine.
- Design study/paper on aspect of medical practice, and conduct discussion or workshop.
- Develop a presentation on an aspect of medical humanities that is of interest to you.
- Develop a workshop for integrating music into narrative medicine curriculum.
Questions? Contact Nina Stoyan-Rosenzweig, 846-1360
