The Companion Curriculum: medical students’ perceptions of the integration of humanities within medical education

Abstract

Background: The contributions of arts and humanities to medical education are known in the medical education community, but medical schools’ offerings vary. The Companion Curriculum (CC) is a student-curated set of optional humanities content for medical students at the University of Toronto. This study evaluates integration of the CC to identify key enabling conditions for medical humanities engagement. Methods: A mixed-methods evaluation gauged usage and perceptions of integration of the CC among medical students using an online survey and focus groups. Narrative data underwent thematic analysis, supported by summary statistics of quantitative data. Results: Half of survey respondents were aware of the CC (n = 67/130; 52%), and, once prompted with a description, 14% had discussed it in their tutorial groups. Of students using the CC, 80% reported learning something new regarding their roles as communicators and health advocates. Themes were the perceived value of the humanities, internal student barriers, institutional neglect of the humanities, and student critiques and recommendations. Conclusion: Despite participants’ interest in medical humanities, our CC remains underused. To improve humanities’ visibility in the MD curriculum, our results indicate that greater institutional support, including faculty development and early curricular integration, is required. Further study should explore reasons for gaps between interest and participation.

Creating Alignment: How the Humanities Can Help Heal Physicians and Patients

“… 49 Schools use the humanities to promote social consciousness and raise critical issues in the community. 50 It can also serve as a source of scholarship and reach into the health care environment as it seeks to enrich the physician–patient relationship. 52 , 53…”

A shout-out to research staff professionals (because completing a strong research project is much harder than it looks, and it looks hard)

“…Charlotte Axelrod and team wrote The Companion Curriculum: medical students' perceptions of the integration of humanities within medical education. 16 They evaluated the usage and perceptions of Companion Curriculum (CC) integration and explored its broader implications for the humanities in medical education. Their results showed that their CC remained underused despite the interest in medical humanities.…”

Exploring the experiences of Canadian medical students with a background in the arts and humanities

“…13 Even with student interest, optional humanities companion curriculums remain underused and reflect a need for increased institutional support, early integration, and faculty development. 17 Considering that Canadian medical schools accept students from diverse academic backgrounds, including those with either formal training or demonstrable interest/engagement in A/H, it may be the case that some students enter medical school with the skills and dispositions that A/H training provides. These students may have developed valuable competencies prior to medical school, but little is known about their experience with the intersection of their A/H background and their medical school training.…”

“… 13 Even with student interest, optional humanities companion curriculums remain underused and reflect a need for increased institutional support, early integration, and faculty development. 17 …”