This paper presents the results from a research project in which the main objective was to ascertain the benefits of including the Humanities Laboratory (LabHum) of the Center for History and Philosophy of Health Sciences (CeHFi), Federal University of São Paulo (Unifesp) as an elective discipline for promoting humanization in the context of medical and nursing students. The course focused on reflections from reading classics from the literature. Qualitative methods based on hermeneutic phenomenology were used. The results pointed towards the idea that literature enables deflagration of "interpellative experiences", i.e. moments of self-reflection that are capable of touching and educating to the point at which changes to vision and attitudes are incorporated naturally into the daily routine, so as to promote humanization.