New elective facilitates understanding of healing, suffering

KIRKSVILLE, Mo. (Jan. 9, 2009) – A.T. Still University’s Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine (ATSU-KCOM) recently approved a medical humanities elective course titled “Medical Letters – Literature in Medicine,” which will be added to its curriculum in the third quarter of the 2008-09 school year.

“Medical Letters – Literature in Medicine” will expose students to the interaction of physician, patient, caregiver, society and the system of medicine through literary works. “It is hoped that examining the writing of others on these topics will increase perspective, deepen understanding, enrich the love for the art of medicine, and enhance empathy,” said Course Director Patricia Sexton, D.H.Ed., assistant professor of Family Medicine.

Educational literature indicates that because medicine is both art and science, students and future patients benefit from formal reflection on medical humanities. Through this lens, students gain an understanding of the human condition, the nature of healing and suffering, and their role in this cycle.

This elective, which was developed through support of HRSA’s Predoctoral Training in Primary Care grant, enhances the KCOM curriculum by offering an additional humanities elective, the first being the Spirituality in Medicine course which was implemented in the Fall of 2008.

This elective also builds upon the objectives of the George Washington Institute for Spirituality and Health Curricular Award granted to KCOM’s Family Medicine Department to impact spirituality, cultural competence, and humanities in medical education. Margaret Wilson, D.O., is the family medicine chair and project director for the HRSA Pre-Doctoral Grant and the George Washington Institute for Spirituality and Health Grant.