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BACKGROUND This project introduced medicinerelated poetry and prose to a Year 3 family medicine clerkship with the purpose of determining students' perception of the usefulness of such materials to enhance empathy, improve patient management, and reduce stress. Although humanities are represented in the curricula of many medical schools, we need more information on how best to incorporate them during the clinical years.METHOD In 2000, we used a needs assessment survey to identify learner perceptions of medical humanities. Using this information, in 2001-03 we developed and implemented a humanities-based curriculum consisting of readings linked to clinical vignettes, comments about humanities reading in required clinical Subjective, Objective, Assessment, Plan (SOAP) notes, and either station-specific or general poetry accompanying student end-of-clerkship objective structured clinical examinations. We collected both quantitative and qualitative data assessing student reactions and examined the data using non-parametric statistics and content analysis, respectively.RESULTS Students showed moderate interest in incorporating humanities in medical education as a way of enhancing empathy, improving understanding and reducing frustration. Assessment of the clerkship humanities curriculum suggested a positive influence on students in terms of empathy for the patient's perspective, and a lesser, but still positive, impact on patient management. DISCUSSION Responses from this group of learners suggest that there is receptivity toward introducing medical humanities into family medicine curricular venues and that such effort can have a generally positive effect on learner empathy, awareness and understanding toward patients and doctors.

Microbiological standards achieved by mothers when sterilizing babies' feeding utensils in the home were studied in the Slough area in England. Results indicated a marked improvement in this aspect of baby hygiene when compared to results of a similar survey conducted in the town of Reading, England, in 1970. Previously, 78% of bottles and 70% of the teats were recorded as being satisfactorily sterilized. During this study the number of sterile bottles had risen to 98.1%, sterile teats to 90.6%. These improved standards may be an indication of better education of mothers.

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