Medical Humanities

An Introduction

Nathan S Carlin author Thomas R Cole author Ronald A Carson author

Format:Hardback

Publisher:Cambridge University Press

Published:31st Oct '14

Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back

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Medical Humanities cover

This textbook uses concepts and methods of the humanities to enhance understanding of medicine and health care.

This textbook helps students and health professionals develop critical-thinking skills as well as compassion by using the many concepts and methods of the humanities. Readers are invited to consider existential issues relating to topics such as the experience of disease, care of the dying, health policy, religion and health, and medical technology.This textbook brings the humanities to students in order to evoke the humanity of students. It helps to form individuals who take charge of their own minds, who are free from narrow and unreflective forms of thought, and who act compassionately in their public and professional worlds. Using concepts and methods of the humanities, the book addresses undergraduate and premed students, medical students, and students in other health professions, as well as physicians and other healthcare practitioners. It encourages them to consider the ethical and existential issues related to the experience of disease, care of the dying, health policy, religion and health, and medical technology. Case studies, images, questions for discussion, and role-playing exercises help readers to engage in the practical, interpretive, and analytical aspects of the material, developing skills for critical thinking as well as compassionate care.

'This book is essential to any medical program that endeavors to develop the physicians of tomorrow in today's complex social, cultural, ethical and political world. It combines a clear introduction to the roles of the humanities in medical education with the detail required for an indispensable source book for teachers and students alike. Medical humanities, as an educational pursuit, has waited a long time for this textbook and who better to write it than three such distinguished originators and advocates of the field.' Jane Macnaugton, University of Durham
'Rarely has the phrase 'it's about time' been more appropriate in medical education than with the publication of Medical Humanities. Its coverage is extraordinary. Crisply written, melding originality and synthesis into a tight, fascinating narrative, it fills an enormous gap in our curriculum. I can't wait to use it.' David Oshinsky, Director, Division of Medical Humanities, New York University Medical College, and winner of the Pulitzer Prize in History for Polio: An American Story
'Leaders in the field of medical humanities, the authors of this comprehensive and long-overdue textbook bring their collective experience in developing programs, designing curricula, working with students and producing important scholarship to the project. They have provided an essential resource and invaluable tool for teachers in any and all settings: from pre-med classrooms to postgraduate seminars.' Therese Jones, Director, Arts and Humanities in Healthcare Program, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus
'Medical Humanities is a wonderful text, a brilliant tour de force by three individuals who had much to do with the creation of this discipline. The subject of humanities as it pertains to medicine is now systematically taught in many medical schools; I can see this work would be a great asset to students as well as those who teach the subject. This volume will find a prized place on my shelf.' Abraham Verghese, Stanford University, California; Founding Director of the Center for Medical Humanities and Ethics, San Antonio; and author of Cutting for Stone

ISBN: 9781107015623

Dimensions: 261mm x 182mm x 29mm

Weight: 990g

466 pages