the importance of humanities in a technical education
TRANSCRIPT
The Importance of Humanities in a Technical
Education
Jonathan McFarland
Head of Academic Writing
Sechenov Medical University
25th November 2016
“Medicine is my lawful wife and literature my mistress; when I get tired of one; I spend the night with the other”
Index
Introduction
The Importance of the Humanities in Medicine
The Importance of the Humanities in other disciplines
Future developments
Take Home Message
-
What is “Humanities”? The word “Humanities” -
Latin word humanitas.
Originally, humanitas – meant human feeling,
Today - sympathy, empathy, compassion, pity, concern or caring.
In the 14th Century, Petrarch shaped it into the ideal of forming a person who combines human feeling with liberal learning and action
Before the late 19th century, medical students were trained in the classical tradition of humanistic education.
Required to read Hippocrates and Galen –
“History – knowledge of and identification with Medicine’s vision of its past – was a central dimension of their professional identity and authority”*
“Of the physician’s character, the chief quality is humanity, the sensibility of heart which makes us feel for the distress of our fellow-creatures” ( John Gregory)
Sir Luke Fildes “The Doctor”(1891)
“Medicine is a science of uncertainty and an art of probability
WILLIAM OSLER HARVEY CUSHING
20th/21st Century
DEHUMANIZATION OF MEDICINE
TECHNOLOGY
PROFITS ABOVE
PATIENTS
BIOMEDICAL REDUCTIONISM
FOCUS ON DISEASE AND NOT ILLNESS
TOO LITTLE TIME TO SEE
PATIENTS
Case study – Dr Hsi
“ I was 43 years old, a successful physician, married to a wonderful woman and blessed with two fine sons – all of it assaulted by a rare heart disease of such catastrophic power that it did more than threaten my life. It nearly destroyed my family”
He believes that the biggest mistake that the Drs made were that they did NOT ask him the really important questions
What were they?
What has the disease done to your life?
What has it done to your family ?
What has it done to your work?
What has it done to your spirit?
EXISTENTIAL QUESTIONS – QUESTIONS ABOUT THE MEANING OF LIFE AND DEATH – ARE ESSENTIAL TO MEDICINE
WHY
NOW?
Most scientific enquiry is based on these six monosyllables, and the orderly presentation of a scientific paper is helped by trying to answer the six questions they pose. (Richard Asher)
EDMUND PELLEGRINO A PHYSICIAN REFORMER MADE A
LIST OF SINS ( IN MEDICINE) INCLUDING –
OVERSPECIALIZATION
TECHNICAL
OVERPROFESSIONALIZATION
INSENSITIVITY
TOO MUCH SCIENCE
OVERMEDICALISATION OF EVERYDAY LIFE
DEFICIENCIES IN VERBAL AND NONVERBAL COMMUNICATION
3 ESSENTIAL GOALS FOR MEDICAL HUMANITIES
HUMANITIES WOULD HELP TO CLARIFY THE ETHICAL ISSUES AND VALUES AT STAKE IN CLINICAL DECISIONS
HUMANITIES WOULD INCULCATE HABITS OF CRITICAL SELF-EXAMINATION
HUMANITIES WOULD “ CONFER THOSE ATTITUDES WHICH DISTINGUUSH THE EDUCATED FROM THE MERELY TRAINED (PROFESSIONAL)”
“ MEDICAL HUMANISM IS REALLY A PLEA TO LOOK MORE CLOSELY AT WHAT MEDICINE SHOULD BE, AND INCREASINGLY SEEMS NOT TO BE.
CAN WE BALANCE THE PROMISES OF MODERN TECHNOLOGY AGAINST THE THREATS IT POSES TO PERSONS AND SOCIETIES ?”
Paul Kalinithi
WHY
NOW?
CP SNOW First Published in 1956
Drew the lines between the Arts and Science
Science was “ expansive, not restrictive, confident at the roots….” and
“…..certain that history is on its side…..”
What can the Humanities add to a
Technical Education ? Help students develop their own values
Help education move from technical training to a genuine university education
Help students appreciate the importance of history
Help students become more critical and reflective
Help students develop communication skills
Help students to devlop skills to interpret their own experiences and those of others
Help students appreciate human diversity
The Doctor as a Humanist Project FIVE PARTICIPATING UNIVERSITIES –
SECHENOV MEDICAL UNIVERSITY
POMPEU FABRA UNIVERSITY ( BARCELONA )
QUEENS UNIVERSITY ( BELFAST, NORTHERN IRELAND )
MILAN UNIVERSITY
TURGES MURES MEDICAL UNIVERSITY ( RUMANIA )
“THE DOCTOR AS A HUMANIST” SYMPOSIUM – PALMA DE MALLORCA – 6-7 OCT 2017
Take Home Message
“THE AIM OF EDUCATION IS THE KNOWLEDGE, NOT OF FACTS, BUT OF VALUES”
