The faculty at the College of Medicine
and the Medical History Center and the University of Florida offer
a number of courses and programs related to the medical humanities. |
Medical Student Electives:
Narrative medicine elective offered for first, second, and fourth year students.
View Syllabus
Electives for 4th year medical students
Religion, culture and medicine http://medcat.medinfo.ufl.edu/medcat/catview.php?id=28
History of medicine http://medcat.medinfo.ufl.edu/medcat/catview.php?id=22
Special Projects in the History of Medicine http://medcat.medinfo.ufl.edu/medcat/catview.php?id=70
Related electives for 1st and 2nd year medical students
Reflective writing- please see Amy Roberson in the Medical Education Office for information on registering for this course
University
of Florida Department of History
Undergraduate courses vary from semester to semester:
offerings can include:
HI3931 Honors History of Medicine
This couse examined topics in the history of medicine from the
perspective of physicians who combine(d) medical practices with interest
in and active pursuit of historical research. The course structure introduced students to major trends in Western medicine and health
from Greek to modern times. Basic course texts gave background on
public health issues, social attitudes toward wellness and sickness,
health care providers and the general health infrastructure. Weekly
lectures from visiting physicians targeted special interests within
that history. Each physician also provided assigned reading. The
class met once a week and combined lecture and discussion.
Each student was responsible for readings, participation in discussion,
writing short reaction papers and one long paper.
HI3931 History of American Medicine
The history of medicine concerns the history of medical establishments
and healers, theoretical understandings of disease, as well as practical
issues of diagnosis and treatment. It also concerns the history of sickness
and health; of disease ecology and changing epidemiology, as well as
changes in sanitation, social structures, human behaviors, and attitudes
toward disease.
It is necessary to take such a broad view of medicine
and health because medicine operates not in a subjective scientific
vacuum but within a society. Health practitioners bring to their medical
practice the beliefs, biases, and structures of their society. In addition,
the way in which any society lives, its beliefs about sanitary practices
and diet, and availability of food or past contact with disease all
can create a particular health environment. Thus, medicine always works
within the social context of disease as well as the biological.
This course operates from this relatively broad definition
of issues related to the history of medicine. It examines the effects
of disease and changes within the medical profession and within American
society from 1607 to the present.
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