Narrative Medicine and Medical Humanities

NOTE: In order to register officially for this class you must see AMY ROBERSON in the Medical Education office.

Goals of course

Summer Narrative medicine

Explore arts and humanities as a means to relax and reduce stress
Explore the role of narrative in improving understanding of patients and the patient experience
Explore the role of arts and humanities in improving medical practice, eg observational skills
Explore ways in which the humanities can improve understanding of social and cultures issues affecting health and the delivery of health care
Explore specific issues vital to the understanding of health and the delivery of health care

Fall and Spring Narrative medicine

Explore the role of narrative in improving understanding of patients and the patient experience
Explore the role of arts and humanities in improving medical practice, eg observational skills
Explore ways in which the humanities can improve understanding of social and cultures issues affecting health and the delivery of health care
Explore specific issues vital to the understanding of health and the delivery of health care

Requirements

First and Second year Students
Students taking this course in the fall or spring of their First or Second year of medical school need to do several things in order to earn 2 credits.

Attend a minimum of 9 monthly book, movie, and patient narrative discussions(3 of each), and 3 other events (history of medicine lecture series, etc). This means a minimum of 12 attendances. Be sure to sign in on log sheet, or contact instructor if you do not see the sheet.
The dates of these discussions and lecture s will be posted on the online calendars. I also will send out email reminders a week prior to each discussion, and to alert you to special events.
Participate in the discussions. If you are uncomfortable speaking up in front of a relatively large group- or find you think of great things to say after the discussion, or just want to contribute more-, there will be small group discussions meeting 3 times in the course of the semester. Please contact Nina Stoyan-Rosenzweig to schedule. If you have any questions about level of participation, also please contact me.
Lead a group discussion or complete 2 write ups of course materials. These write ups can describe the books and movies. or the patient narratives/discussions.

2011 Summer narrative medicine requirements:

Attendance requirements- 12 attendance are required for credit- these must include attendance at 3 book discussions, 1 field trip, 4 movies, and 4 patient narratives.
Do two 2 page write ups reflecting on any choices and combinations (ie can be two of the same category such as two books, or a book and a movie, etc) of book, movie, field trip, or patient narrative discussed in class. Please use the links above for guidelines to writing the reflective papers.

The credits earned in this course count toward the credits required for the 4th year. A student may earn up to 4 credits by enrolling in the course for two semesters.

Logistics: copies of movies and books will be placed in the Maren Reading Room. Please be sure to sign out the material when you borrow it. Also, if you take the movie to watch the night before discussion, be sure to contact your classmates and arrange for a group viewing.

Academic Honesty: All students sign the following statement upon registration at the University of Florida: "I understand that the University of Florida expects its students to be honest in all their academic work. I agree to adhere to this commitment to academic honesty and understand that my failure to comply with this commitment may result in disciplinary action up to and including expulsion from the University." As instructors for this course, we fully support the intent of the above statement and will not tolerate academic dishonesty.

Student Responsibility: Students are responsible for understanding all course policies and for accessing all course materials on the UF E-Learning Website through the URL listed above. All assignments should be submitted through the website and in hard copy when requested. Students are also responsible for checking their UF e-mail account for course notifications and for communicating with the instructors related to any situation that may hinder his or her progress or participation in the course.

4th year Narrative Medicine Elective- Student projects

Projects (be sure to download and refer to this pdf describing project, and submit your description for approval before beginning project) must address an issue related to humane medical practice, narrative medicine and empathy, arts and medicine or medical humanities. They need not take the form of a formal, academic paper although the amount of time and intellectual effort required to complete a project should be roughly equivalent to that of a research term paper with a minimum of 10 sources. If a project takes on a life of its own and clearly will require far greater expenditure of effort, then it may be possible and in fact necessary to sign up for other credits at a different time. For instance, if students want to conduct a multiple series of surveys of fellow students throughout their medical student career or over a longer period of time, then they may need to work out a way of extending credits.

The projects will need to focus on a specific aspect of narrative medicine and in some way to demonstrate understanding of the goals and aims of narrative medicine and medical humanities. Non-UF 4th year students interested in taking this elective need to clear the elective with their school, receive approval from the UF Medical Education Office (Amy Roberson) and have their project proposal approved by the elective director before proceeding.

Areas for which a project can be shaped include:

Empathy
Empathy and consciousness
Physician-patient relationship
Cross cultural medical issues and needs
History of medicine
Literature and medicine
Art/photography and medicine
Medical training and medical school curriculum
Reflection and reflective practice

Students shaping a project need to produce a brief description that

Details the project and activities needed to complete it
Describes the project goal
Discusses how the project will help the individual student learn about narrative medicine and reflective practice

Examples of projects:

Research UF- COM/HSC history and conduct an oral history interview.
Prepare an art/photography exhibit for the Maren Room with related commentary or brochure and design for discussion workshop on topic.
Design, conduct and analyze medical student survey on issues related to reflective practice/narrative medicine.
Design study/paper on aspect of medical practice, and conduct discussion or workshop.
Develop a presentation on an aspect of medical humanities that is of interest to you.
Develop a workshop for integrating music into narrative medicine curriculum.
Research the role of arts and microfinance (especially beadwork and jewelry making) in empowering women and effecting social change- see http://www.guestcurator.com/viewexhibition.asp?id=184

narrative_medicine_schedule_ay_2011_2012.pdf	PDF File	85 Kb
narrative_medicine_updated_syllabus.pdf	PDF File	37 Kb
projects.pdf	PDF File	26 Kb
summer_narmed_schedule.pdf	PDF File	122 Kb
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