The Enduring Effects of Medical Humanities on Medical Students: Short- and Long-Term Impacts of 15 Years of Teaching a Medical Humanities Course in a Swedish Medical Degree Program

TL;DR

A 15-year study shows that teaching medical humanities to Swedish medical students has lasting effects on their clinical practice and personal growth.

Contribution

The study demonstrates the long-term impact of medical humanities education on students' professional and personal development.

Findings

Medical humanities teaching enhances students' narrative understanding and empathy in clinical practice.

Students gain skills in perspective-taking and a broader toolkit for patient care.

The effects of medical humanities education persist into alumni's professional lives.

Abstract

This article analyzes the immediate and long-term effects of medical humanities teaching at a Swedish medical degree program. The objectives, format, and core pedagogical ideas and practices of an elective course in medical humanities are presented, situating the learning experience in the wider context of medical humanities in the Nordics. We conducted a qualitative, thematic analysis of course evaluations amassed over 15 years and of open-ended responses in an alumni survey sent out in 2023. Using these two sources, we compare the students’ immediate perception of medical humanities’ contribution to their education with what they discern when looking back. The students report that medical humanities teaching advances an understanding and responsiveness to narratives and furthers an ability to balance the rational, bio-medical perspective with a more holistic empathetic view of patients and illness, providing a deeper and broader toolkit to work from in clinical practice. The students perceive that they have acquired a specific expertise, obtained training in perspective taking, and yielded personal growth and agency. The interpretative sensitivities and competencies reverberated in the alumni survey and were reported to influence subsequent clinical work. Our study suggests that the impact of medical humanities teaching is transferred to both occupational practice and personal life, and that the impact is long term.

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