Now more than ever, undergraduate students across the country are applying to medical schools. The Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) reported a marked 17% increase in applications during the 2021-22 admission cycle and projects that this figure will only continue to rise in the coming years. The majority of these applicants come from STEM backgrounds, with life-sciences majors being a popular choice for aspiring pre-medical students, given the overlap between the curricula for these majors and required courses for medical admissions. As such, many students tend to mainly take STEM courses, often overlooking the importance of humanities classes to help them develop a well-rounded perspective on healing. As concluded in a journal article by Anil, et al, in which sample MD curricula from the U.S. News’ top 31 ranked medical schools were analyzed, there is a definitive lack of integration of the arts and humanities into the required undergraduate medical curricula.
The study of humanities in undergraduate and medical education has become increasingly relevant to the development of observational skills, analytical reasoning, and empathy while providing insight into human conditions, illnesses, and suffering across the world. The AAMC itself strongly recommends integrating arts and humanities studies with core science and math classes, asserting that it will allow “trainees and physicians… to be better observers and interpreters and build empathy, communication and teamwork skills''. Along the lines of Anil, et al.’s findings, the American College of Physicians notes that despite the variability in implementation of humanities education, the study of these fields underscores the need for culturally and socially aware physicians to help promote health in a more holistic way.
As analyzed in an NIH journal article by Batistatou, et al, medical practice is composed of three essences: the scientific hypothesis, a constantly growing body of evidence, and the ideal professional practice of medicine. Many students may spend their efforts on just one aspect of this equation, “failing to reflect on deeper questions regarding their role [as] health care providers”. The influence of humanities within the pre-medical curriculum will frame students to become focused on treating the afflicted patient, not just the disease; humanities, like medicine, shares a focus on humans. Medical humanities provides the answers to the third part of that equation, the ideal professional practice of medicine, as it gives insight into human illness and suffering and into professionalism and responsibilities to oneself and others, both colleagues and patients.
The more that medicine is practiced with respect for the larger cultural, psychological, and social settings, the more holistically these settings will be able to promote health. Having a well-rounded education including courses in subjects such as philosophy, theology and ethics can better prepare a physician to respond to situations where cultural beliefs conflict with standard allopathic medicinal techniques. For example, Jehovah’s Witnesses regularly refuse transfusions as they believe that “a human must not sustain his life with another creature’s blood”, often not recognizing a distinction “between taking blood into the mouth and taking it into blood vessels”. Withstanding this, physicians should respect these religious beliefs while simultaneously aiming to provide these patients with the highest standard of care possible. Many alternative therapies exist that don’t involve the transfusion of the primary blood components that Jehovah’s Witnesses often reject, namely red cells, white cells, platelets, and unfractionated plasma. Instead, these alternatives rely on transfusing the derivatives of these primary blood components, such as albumin solutions, cryoprecipitate, clotting factor concentrates, and immunoglobulins, which many Witnesses will accept.
Finding therapies within the bounds of the patient’s spiritual and cultural beliefs is an important part of upholding medical ethics, and humanities prepares students to recognize the contextual values of these bounds.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Written by: Shreya Bhardwaj
Date Published: 11/28/2023
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SOURCES:
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Have a question or comment? Email us at ebwriterscoalition@gmail.com!
Коментарі