The Program in Medical Humanities at the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine.

The University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine opened officially in 1971, offering a combined BA/MD in a six-year program. The program has a defined goal of offering humanities courses throughout the curriculum. The Sirridge Office of Medical Humanities was established in 1992, and it assumed the responsibility of developing conveniently scheduled courses in medical humanities, making more specific requirements for such courses in the medical curriculum. The goal of these courses has been to provide students a different way of looking at things by giving them insight into the ways that reading literature and writing stories helps medical students better read patient experiences. A course entitled "Literature: A Healing Art" was first offered in 1992. In 1994, The Body Image in Medicine and the Arts course was added. With the help of a Culpeper grant in 1995, five interdisciplinary undergraduate courses were created. In 1999 Medicine, Literature, and Law was developed from two previous courses. Bioethics is offered as part of a series called Correlative Medicine and in a required course, Behavioral Science. The present director of the Office of Medical Humanities has resigned and at present there is a search for a replacement. A new director may decide to change some of the offerings and add new activities. The medical school remains committed to supporting the office and its programs in keeping with the goals of the original academic plan to educate safe and caring physicians.     

The Medical Humanities Program at the University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.

The current Medical Humanities Program at the University of Manitoba has evolved from a series of voluntary sessions into an integral element of the curriculum since its inception as the Human Values Program in 1986. With strong academic and financial support, the Medical Humanities Program has greatly benefited from dedicated leadership and a commitment to ongoing curricular review and redevelopment. The current Medical Humanities Program comprises six distinct components: Clinical Ethics; History of Medicine; Law; Complementary and Alternative Medicine; Palliative Care; and Human Values. Each of these components is compulsory and the first five are tested through examinations and assignments. Human Values sessions are designed to be experiential and to explore the human side of medicine as well as the intersections between medicine and the arts, literature, social psychology, and spirituality. The authors outline the origins and evolution of this successful program and describe its current components, student and faculty opinions, funding, advantages, disadvantages, and anticipated growth.     

Medical Humanities at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston.

The Institute for the Medical Humanities of the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston (UTMB) was established in June 1973 to ensure that humanities teaching and research became an integral part of the education of future scientists and health-care professionals at UTMB. The multidisciplinary faculty of the Institute-who currently represent the disciplines of art, drama, history, law, literature, philosophy, and religious studies-teach in all four years of the undergraduate medical curriculum as well as in various residency programs. In addition to its focus on students and residents in the School of Medicine, the Institute has a vibrant graduate program in medical humanities with several joint degree options, including an MD/MA and an MD/PhD program, and the Institute has always included the School of Nursing, the School of Allied Health Sciences, and the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences in its activities. After 30 years, the Institute's commitment to health-professional education remains strong and enduring. Challenged by major curriculum reform in the School of Medicine and increasingly tight state budgets, Institute faculty members look forward to continued collaboration with their basic science and clinical colleagues to improve our evolving curriculum and to seek research funding from external sources.