The Medical Humanities Effect: a Pilot Study of Pre-Health Professions Students at the University of Rochester

Beyond empathy: a qualitative exploration of arts and humanities in pre-professional (baccalaureate) health education

For nearly four decades, researchers have explored the integration of arts and humanities content into health professions education (HPE). However, enduring controversies regarding the purpose, efficacy, and implementation of humanities initiatives suggest that the timing and context of trainees' exposure to such content is a key, but seldom considered, factor. To better understand the affordances of introducing humanities-based health curriculum prior to the HPE admissions gateway, we conducted a qualitative instrumental case study with participants from Canada's first Health Humanities baccalaureate program. Fully anonymized transcripts from semi-structured interviews (n = 11) and focus groups (n = 14) underwent an open-coding procedure for thematic narrative analysis to reveal three major temporal domains of described experience (i.e., prior to, during, and following their participation in a 12-week semester-long "Introduction to Health Humanities" course). Our findings demonstrate that perceptions of arts- and humanities content in health education are generated well in advance of HPE admission. Among other findings, we define a new concept-epistemological multicompetence-to describe participants' emergent capability to toggle between (and advocate for the role of) multiple disciplines, arts and humanities particularly, in health-related teaching and learning at the pre-professional level. Improved coordination of baccalaureate and HPE curricula may therefore enhance the development of capabilities associated with arts and humanities, including: epistemological multicompetence, aesthetic sensibility, and other sought-after qualities in HPE candidates. In conclusion, attending to the pre-professional admissions gateway presents a new, capabilities-driven approach to enhancing both the implementation and critical understanding of arts and humanities' purpose, role, and effects across the "life course" of health professions education.

(Self-)Reflexion and training of professional skills in the context of "being a doctor" in the future - a qualitative analysis of medical students' experience in LET ME ... keep you real!

Objective: This paper seeks to assess how medical students can be trained in medical studies seminars to examine their own professional role as doctors. The LET ME ... keep you real! university seminar was developed and conducted at the Technical University of Munich. In this context, the following questions will be addressed: How can we assess the contribution of a university seminar to a medical student's own examination of being a doctor? And: What skills are developed in LET ME ... keep you real! that foster medical students' (self-)reflexion? Methods: The source data is statements made by medical students who took part in the LET ME….keep you real! seminar from 2016-2018. Student perspectives were analyzed after five focus group discussions with a total of 26 medical student participants and two individual interviews. Based on the interpretative paradigm and following the credo of a methodological exploration of medical students' lifeworld, their specific learning experience as well as their ability for (self-)reflexion were mapped out. Results: The research questions guiding the assessment of the seminar can be answered as follows: From the students' perspective, the (self-)reflexion triggered and organized by LET ME ... keep you real! can be seen as rehearsing a meta-view. From the students' standpoint, five skills can be identified that make this behavior possible: questioning and doubting,recognizing relevant perspectives, classifying viewpoints, maintaining communal exchanges and deciding on a (different) position. Situatively, these skills are often used in combination and challenge students on an intellectual, communicative and emotional level. Conclusion: The ability to (self-)reflect should be more strongly integrated in university medical training by providing appropriate support, especially since it presents students with specific challenges to (self-)reflexively approach their own future as doctors. The skills mapped out here can be used as orientation to develop seminars on professional (self-)reflexive identity development for medical students.

Undergraduate Premedical Student Perceptions of an Emergency Department-Based Social Needs Screening Program

BACKGROUND

Medical school admission requirements increasingly encompass competencies beyond the traditional premedical curriculum, such as service orientation and knowledge of "social determinants of health."

ACTIVITY

The Stanford Help Desk is an undergraduate service-learning program that provides didactic and experiential exposure to the social determinants of health through screening for social and legal needs of emergency department (ED) patients. We assessed student perceptions of program impact through student applications, course evaluations, and an online program survey.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

This course strengthened students' understanding of their career aspirations in medicine. Students were resolved to incorporate consideration of social determinants of health in future practice.

Use of mixed-methods approach to assess the impact of a pre-professional health humanities honors course on developing interpersonal skills

INTRODUCTION

The purpose of this study was to use a mixed-methods approach to provide evidence for growth in empathy, respect for patient autonomy, ability to relate to others, and self-awareness as a result of participating in a health humanities course.

METHODS

The mixed-methods approach gathered quantitative data using a quasi-experimental design of a pre/post course survey and qualitative data from reflective writings and student papers. The reflective writings and student papers were evaluated using an adapted rubric to assess the quality of the reflections on measures of empathy, respect for patient autonomy, ability to relate to others, and self-awareness.

RESULTS

Twenty-five students were enrolled in the course. Matched pair data was available from 22 students (88% response rate) for the quantitative survey data. Qualitative data was available from all 25 participants. The pre- and post-course surveys revealed a statistically significant increase in empathy (p < 0.001) as a result of completing the health humanities course. The final written report contained the highest quality of reflections compared to all other reflective writing assignments. Evidence for understanding empathy was prominent in the final written report.

CONCLUSIONS

The evaluation of development of interpersonal skills through use of health humanities resources may be reproduced by using a mixed-methods assessment approach. The quantitative and qualitative data presented provide some evidence for enhancing awareness and understanding of empathy, particularly by utilizing health humanities resources in an undergraduate interdisciplinary seminar course.