Medical Humanities and Its Role in Shaping Ethics in Medical Graduates

Abstract

Medicine as a field is unique in the sense that the skill to relate to people weighs heavier on the doctor than the skill required to practise it. Medical humanities is an interdisciplinary field that considers issues of health in the context of history, philosophy, social studies, and anthropology among others, enabling students to change their practice from “looking” to “seeing” the patient as a whole. Unfortunately, current medical training is focused on academics with students left on their own to acquire communication and ancillary skills. In the core medical curriculum, a structured training in medical humanities remains lacking. Herein, we discuss the need, student’s perspectives, and the approach going forward in the inculcation of medical humanities in the medical training with a particular focus on medical ethics.

Ethical Considerations in the Practice of the Modern Physician-Researcher

“…Unfortunately, current medical education is academically oriented, and students are forced to develop communication and support skills on their own. Structured training in medical humanitarian sciences is still lacking in the core medical program [11].…”