Medical Humanities
Medical Humanities
Nathan S. Carlin, University of Texas, Houston School of Medicine
Ronald A. Carson, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston
This textbook brings the humanities to students in order to evoke the humanity of students. It helps to form individuals who take charge of their own minds, who are free from narrow and unreflective forms of thought, and who act compassionately in their public and professional worlds. Using concepts and methods of the humanities, the book addresses undergraduate and premed students, medical students, and students in other health professions, as well as physicians and other healthcare practitioners. It encourages them to consider the ethical and existential issues related to the experience of disease, care of the dying, health policy, religion and health, and medical technology. Case studies, images, questions for discussion, and role-playing exercises help readers to engage in the practical, interpretive, and analytical aspects of the material, developing skills for critical thinking as well as compassionate care.
- History, literature and the arts, philosophy, and religious studies are used to enhance understanding of ethical and existential issues relating to topics such as the experience of disease, care of the dying, justice and health policy, religion and health, and medical technology
- Case studies, primary sources, and images engage students more actively in the practical, interpretive, or analytical aspects of the materials
- Exercises (including questions for discussion, role playing, and suggested writing exercises) encourage critical thinking and character formation, and further resources (including suggested reading and viewing) are included, and lists of relevant journals and organizations are noted
Reviews & endorsements
"This book is essential to any medical program that endeavors to develop the physicians of tomorrow in today’s complex social, cultural, ethical and political world. It combines a clear introduction to the roles of the humanities in medical education with the detail required for an indispensable source book for teachers and students alike. Medical humanities, as an educational pursuit, has waited a long time for this textbook and who better to write it than three such distinguished originators and advocates of the field."
Jane Macnaugton, Durham University
"Rarely has the phrase 'it’s about time’ been more appropriate in medical education than with the publication of Medical Humanities. Its coverage is extraordinary. Crisply written, melding originality and synthesis into a tight, fascinating narrative, it fills an enormous gap in our curriculum. I can’t wait to use it."
David Oshinsky, Director, Division of Medical Humanities, New York University Medical College, and winner of the Pulitzer Prize in History for Polio: An American Story
"Leaders in the field of medical humanities, the authors of this comprehensive and long-overdue textbook bring their collective experience in developing programs, designing curricula, working with students and producing important scholarship to the project. They have provided an essential resource and invaluable tool for teachers in any and all settings: from pre-med classrooms to postgraduate seminars."
Therese Jones, Director, Arts and Humanities in Healthcare Program, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus
"Medical Humanities is a wonderful text, a brilliant tour de force by three individuals who had much to do with the creation of this discipline. The subject of humanities as it pertains to medicine is now systematically taught in many medical schools; I can see this work would be a great asset to students as well as those who teach the subject. This volume will find a prized place on my shelf."
Abraham Verghese, Stanford University; Founding Director of the Center for Medical Humanities and Ethics, San Antonio; and author of Cutting for Stone
‘Excellent text.’ Mazdak Tehrani, Arizona College of Nursing
‘I like the book's organization and scope. I also like the illustrations and the kinds of texts that the authors engage with. I will definitely consider this text for future iterations of my course.’ Joanne Diaz, Illinois Wesleyan University
Product details
October 2014Paperback
9781107614178
464 pages
254 × 177 × 24 mm
0.85kg
24 b/w illus.
Available
Table of Contents
- Part I. History and Medicine:
- 1. The doctor-patient relationship Thomas Cole and Benjamin Saxton
- 2. Constructing disease Thomas Cole and Benjamin Saxton
- 3. Educating doctors Thomas Cole and Benjamin Saxton
- 4. Technology and medicine Thomas Cole and Benjamin Saxton
- 5. The health of populations Thomas Cole and Benjamin Saxton
- 6. Death and dying Thomas Cole and Benjamin Saxton
- Part II. Literature, the Arts, and Medicine:
- 7. Narratives of illness Ronald Carson
- 8. Aging in film Thomas Cole and Benjamin Saxton
- 9. Medicine and media Nathan Carlin
- 10. Poetry and moral imagination Ronald Carson
- 11. Doctor-writers Ronald Carson
- 12. Studying medicine Ronald Carson
- Part III. Philosophy and Medicine:
- 13. Ways of knowing Ronald Carson
- 14. Goals of medicine Ronald Carson
- 15. Health and disease Thomas Cole and Benjamin Saxton
- 16. Moral philosophy and bioethics Ronald Carson
- 17. Medicine and power Nathan Carlin
- 18. Just health care Ronald Carson
- Part IV. Religion and Medicine:
- 19. World religions for medical humanities Nathan Carlin
- 20. Religion and health Nathan Carlin
- 21. Religion and reality Nathan Carlin
- 22. Religion and bioethics Nathan Carlin
- 23. Suffering and hope Nathan Carlin
- Contributions to chapters William Howze.
