The humanities in medical education: context, outcomes and structures.

There is now a context for teaching humanities in undergraduate medical education via special study modules (SSMs). This paper discusses the instrumental and non-instrumental role of the humanities in the education of doctors. Three courses are then described and compared. The most successful of the three is a SSM which had the following characteristics: it was voluntary, it was an integral part of the curriculum, and it was examinable. Author’s note In this paper I shall not draw any distinction between “arts” and “humanities”, although for other purposes it may be important to distinguish them. I shall use the term “humanities” throughout to mean subjects such as literature, history and philosophy. (J Med Ethics: Medical Humanities 2000;26:23–30)