Through the generosity of our faculty advisor, Healing through Humanities is able to provide undergraduates with the opportunity to attend medical school classes at the UC Irvine School of Medicine.
The classes are offered through the Program in Medical Humanities And Arts at the UC Irvine School of Medicine. The Program in Medical Humanities and Arts consists of a required and elective curriculum designed to integrate arts and humanities-based materials into medical education and to promote student research in the medical humanities.
Students who attend meetings and participate in discussions regularly will have an opportunity to observe classes. Contact us for more information!
Currently Offered Classes for the 2022-23 Academic Year
1. The Art of Doctoring
Wednesdays 4-6 PM via Zoom
The Art of Doctoring is a longitudinal experience intended to enhance the physician-patient relationship, expand students’ communication skills, teach team-building skills and provide strategies to promote compassion and empathy as core physician values.
The class uses reflective practices, role-modeling, readings, and case-based, problem-solving discussions.
Offered Classes in the Past
2. PATIENT Stories/DOCTOR STORIES
Thursdays and Fridays 12-1 pm at the UCI School of Medicine
This elective uses short selections from literature — including poetry, short stories, and role-plays written mostly by doctors, patients, or medical students — to help participants deepen their understanding of patients’ experiences of illness, as well as patients’ and doctors’ experiences of each other. Most readings are done in class, followed by commentary and discussion.
Each student is expected to complete a creative project reflecting on some aspect of their experience as medical students at the end of the class.
3. Medical Readers Theater: Family Medicine Clerkship
Variable times at the UCI School of Medicine
Readers’ theater (RT), a required clerkship component, is a minimal form of theatrical performance in which there are no or negligible sets or costumes, and scripts are used in staging. It has been used in a variety of educational settings. More recently, medically-themed readers’ theater (MRT) has generated interest in medical education circles as a method of engaging students and other learners with the human side of medicine.
MRT is an effective way of bringing together individuals with different backgrounds and life experiences and getting them to share their perspectives on various topics.
In collaboration with the UC Irvine Program in Geriatrics and residents from a local retirement community, we have incorporated a required MRT session as part of the Family Medicine clerkship.
Nine to ten students participate in each session. Students meet for one hour with facility residents to participate in a brief skit that highlights issues of importance to older patients, including ageism, multiple and chronic health problems, disability, dementia, Alzheimer’s disease, and end-of-life issues. The role-plays are followed by a facilitated discussion.