Skip to main content
NCBI home page
The British Journal of General Practice logoLink to The British Journal of General Practice
. 1998 Jun;48(431):1337–1340.

Literature in our medical schools.

B H Smith 1
PMCID: PMC1410130  PMID: 9747554

Abstract

Despite many relevant benefits, the study of literature has been rejected by medical schools this century. However, the role of literature and the arts is coming to the fore again in many branches of medicine, including education, leading to a broader approach to medical practice than the purely scientific approach. This is likely to enrich the profession and individuals therein. As well giving as a wider general education, areas of medical training and practice that a literary education will benefit directly include critical reading and appraisal, communication skills, history taking, 'surrogate experience', understanding the role of the physician, ethics, and self-expression. Many of these are central to our understanding of good medical practice.

Full text

PDF
1337

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Calman K. C., Downie R. S., Duthie M., Sweeney B. Literature and medicine: a short course for medical students. Med Educ. 1988 Jul;22(4):265–269. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2923.1988.tb00752.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Calman K. C., Downie R. S. Education and training in medicine. Med Educ. 1988 Nov;22(6):488–491. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2923.1988.tb00790.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Calman K., Downie R. Why arts courses for medical curricula. Lancet. 1996 Jun 1;347(9014):1499–1500. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(96)90665-0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Chambers R. Avoiding burnout in general practice. Br J Gen Pract. 1993 Nov;43(376):442–443. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Charlton B. G. Holistic medicine or the humane doctor? Br J Gen Pract. 1993 Nov;43(376):475–477. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Charon R., Banks J. T., Connelly J. E., Hawkins A. H., Hunter K. M., Jones A. H., Montello M., Poirer S. Literature and medicine: contributions to clinical practice. Ann Intern Med. 1995 Apr 15;122(8):599–606. doi: 10.7326/0003-4819-122-8-199504150-00008. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Davidoff F., Haynes B., Sackett D., Smith R. Evidence based medicine. BMJ. 1995 Apr 29;310(6987):1085–1086. doi: 10.1136/bmj.310.6987.1085. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Downie R. S., Hendry R. A., Macnaughton R. J., Smith B. H. Humanizing medicine: a special study module. Med Educ. 1997 Jul;31(4):276–280. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2923.1997.tb02925.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Downie R. S. Literature and medicine. J Med Ethics. 1991 Jun;17(2):93-6, 98. doi: 10.1136/jme.17.2.93. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Fishbein J. A piece of my mind. The poetry of medicine. JAMA. 1990 Dec 19;264(23):2999–2999. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Foss F. A., Dickinson E., Hills M., Thomson A., Wilson V., Ebrahim S. Missed opportunities for the prevention of cardiovascular disease among British hypertensives in primary care. Br J Gen Pract. 1996 Oct;46(411):571–575. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Goldbeck-Wood S. Choosing tomorrow's doctors. BMJ. 1996 Aug 10;313(7053):313–313. doi: 10.1136/bmj.313.7053.313. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Horowitz H. W. Poetry on rounds: a model for the integration of humanities into residency training. Lancet. 1996 Feb 17;347(8999):447–449. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(96)90015-x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Hunter K. M., Charon R., Coulehan J. L. The study of literature in medical education. Acad Med. 1995 Sep;70(9):787–794. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Jones A. H. Literature and medicine: physician-poets. Lancet. 1997 Jan 25;349(9047):275–278. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(96)12240-6. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Kopelman L. M. Development of the medical humanities program at East Carolina University. Acad Med. 1989 Dec;64(12):730–734. doi: 10.1097/00001888-198912000-00008. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Mayou R. Burnout. Br Med J (Clin Res Ed) 1987 Aug 1;295(6593):284–285. doi: 10.1136/bmj.295.6593.284. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. McLellan M. F. Images of physicians in literature: from quacks to heroes. Lancet. 1996 Aug 17;348(9025):458–460. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(96)02421-X. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. McManus I. C. Humanity and the medical humanities. Lancet. 1995 Oct 28;346(8983):1143–1145. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(95)91806-x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Neame R. L., Powis D. A., Bristow T. Should medical students be selected only from recent school-leavers who have studied science? Med Educ. 1992 Nov;26(6):433–440. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2923.1992.tb00202.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. O'Toole J. The story of ethics: narrative as a means for ethical understanding and action. JAMA. 1995 May 3;273(17):1387–1390. doi: 10.1001/jama.273.17.1387. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  22. Rolfe I. E., Pearson S., Powis D. A., Smith A. J. Time for a review of admission to medical school? Lancet. 1995 Nov 18;346(8986):1329–1333. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(95)92344-6. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  23. Smith B. H., Taylor R. J. Medicine--a healing or a dying art? Br J Gen Pract. 1996 Apr;46(405):249–251. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  24. Warren K. S. The humanities in medical education. Ann Intern Med. 1984 Nov;101(5):697–701. doi: 10.7326/0003-4819-101-5-697. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  25. Weatherall D. J. The inhumanity of medicine. BMJ. 1994 Dec 24;309(6970):1671–1672. doi: 10.1136/bmj.309.6970.1671. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from The British Journal of General Practice are provided here courtesy of Royal College of General Practitioners

RESOURCES