AMWA Medical Humanities
Medicine and the humanities have been linked since antiquity. Many of the great physicians, including Aristotle, Hippocrates, Maimonides, and Chekhov, exerted influence not only in medicine but also in the arts and humanities, positioning medicine as part of—rather than separate from—intellectual and cultural life. This merging of medicine and the medical humanities provides both an outlet for personal expression as well as an opportunity to foster more enriching care for our patients.
The American Medical Women’s Association embraces an active community of members who enrich their pursuit of medicine through the arts. AMWA’s medical humanities communities reflect the study and practice of various creative endeavors, including music, visual, literary, history, and performing arts inspired by their intersection with medicine.
Events
- July 25, 2024 11a-3p A Celebration of the Arts in Medicine
Humanities & Healing: An Arts in Medicine Journal, Vol I
In collaboration with Gloria Bachmann, M.D., Co-Chair of the AMWA Humanities Committee and Director of the Rutgers Women’s Health Institute, the Music & Medicine committee spearheaded the AMWA and Rutgers WHI-joint sponsored “Humanities and Healing: An Arts in Medicine Journal.”
Journal submissions showcase the considerable breadth of talent of our students and physicians across the humanities, including music, art, photography and dance. We hope that our journal can inspire and play a role in healing.
Medical Humanities Gains Traction in Medical Education, Scholarship, and Practice
Why are the humanities important within medicine? Literature has suggested that humanistic engagement may offer myriad benefits to both physicians and physicians in training, including improved medical acumen, more empathetic connections with patients and colleagues, and increased satisfaction in the practice of medicine. [1] When practitioners and students study the human condition from the perspective of one of the arts or social sciences, they are likely to gain a deeper understanding of their patient’s suffering. This insight, in turn, may lead to a more sympathetic sense of disease experience, offering better understanding into its nature, causes, and outcomes.
Medical Humanities Introduces Shared and Related Experiences
Years of training are focused on mastering medical knowledge and ensuring technical competence to practice medicine. There can be a heavy reliance on structure, protocols, and memorization. Some have commented on the absence of higher order cognitive challenges, which would be involved in the critical analysis of thought and ideas, such as those in philosophy, classics and law.” The medical humanities can help fill this void. Rather than being merely additive, integrating medical humanities into medical education and training promises to improve outcomes for the patient and increase compassion and satisfaction for the practitioner.
Many institutions have established medical humanities programs. The Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) developed the program Fundamental Role of Arts and Humanities in Medical Education (FRAHME) to provide resources for medical educators who wish to incorporate the use of arts and humanities in their teaching. [2] The journal Medical Humanities has been published by the Institute of Medical Ethics and the British Journal of Medicine since 2000 and presents an international conversation around medicine and its engagement with the humanities and arts, social sciences, health policy, medical education, patient experience and the public at large.
The American Medical Women’s Association proudly showcases the work of our members through several medical humanities communities: Studio AMWA (art), Literary AMWA (writing), Music & Medicine, Dance, Theater & Medicine, Media AMWA (film), and historical exhibits. Our artist-in-residence program has featured artists from a variety of backgrounds and who have embraced many different art forms.
Visit AMWA’s online exhibitions to celebrate the medical humanities and consider joining one of these communities.
SOURCES:
- Shalev, D., McCann, R. Can the Medical Humanities Make Trainees More Compassionate? A Neurobehavioral Perspective. Acad Psychiatry. 2020;44:606–610. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40596-020-01180-6
- https://www.aamc.org/about-us/mission-areas/medical-education/frahme accessed July 25, 2022.