Maryam Arabi

ABSTRACT

Evaluating the Value of Medical Humanities in Education: A panel discussion amongst medical students

Maryam Arabi

Azwa Dilawar

Abdallah Tom

Sanjith Ganesan

Khadija Elmagarmid

Amr Ahmed

Reem Al-Janahi

Harsh Gohil

Abdulrahman Al-Namla

Weill Cornell Medicine - Qatar

Health humanities is an interdisciplinary field that has slowly been integrated into medical education. Despite developments in medical technologies, patients still experience feelings of grief, anger, and anxiety about their health and rely on the doctor for moral and emotional support. Thus, patients today are finding doctors’ empathy and understanding equally as important as their medical knowledge and clinical experience. The development and incorporation of medical humanities courses are vital for enhancing the delivery of treatment to the patient and optimizing their physical, mental, social, and emotional well-being. NAonetheless, some healthcare professionals and educators still argue that the medical field has advanced far beyond the theoretical approaches of medical humanities, especially since limited data is available to support their effectiveness. Another objection that is faced against the humanities is that the medical curriculum is already extremely rigorous, which makes it challenging to incorporate any new material into the standard coursework. Six medical students from WCM-Q and CMED-QU will aim to uncover the potential values and limitations of medical humanities in current education and its efficacy in clinical settings. The discussion will shed light on the core skills that can be promoted by humanities including observation, listening, sensitivity, sensibility, and communication. Furthermore, the panelists will engage in a fruitful debate exploring the narrative and scientific thinking of doctors and examining the cost-benefit analysis of modern medical practices with traditional therapeutic approaches.

Keywords: health humanities, medical education, empathy, clinical experience

BIO

Maryam Arabi, Azwa Dilawar, Khadija Elmagarmid, Amr Ahmed, Abdallah Tom, Sanjith Ganesan, Amr Ahmed, Reem Al-Janahi, Harsh Gohil, and Abdulrahman Al-Namla are Premedical and Medical students from Weill Cornell Medicine - Qatar. We are also part of the executive team for the Medical and Health Humanities club at WCM-Q, which strives to showcase and integrate the medical humanities into medical student education. We explore the various fields of the medical humanities including ethics, narrative medicine, drama and medicine, and history. All these disciplines, along with many more, make up the entirety of the medical experience by delving deeper into patient-physician interactions. We hope to inspire curiosity and proactive integration of such disciplines into medical students’ education and way of life as they continue towards their goal of becoming well-rounded physicians.