TABLE 1.

Sample of humanities content in 2008 survey of curriculum

University of British Columbia	Required course taught over the first 2 years of the medical curriculum whose subject matter includes health care ethics, epidemiology, sexual medicine, clinical anthropology, and domestic violence. History of medicine was dropped from University of British Columbia’s curriculum before the survey. This curriculum is also presented at the University of Northern British Columbia.
University of Calgary	No required medical humanities curriculum, but is well known across Canada for its extra-curricular emphasis on the history of medicine. Student discussions occur over 60 hr outside class time; typically, only first-year students take part; each conducts a research project that is presented and evaluated at the end of the year.
University of Saskatchewan	Required course in first year called “Life Cycles and Humanities,” which includes medical ethics and professionalism. Students are also required to shadow both physicians and non-MD health-care professionals in order to learn about the larger social context of medicine and the health care system generally.
University of Manitoba	A formal, non-elective Medical Humanities Program. The program has grown from a relatively narrow focus on the history of medicine and health care ethics, to include sessions on health law, complementary and alternative medicine, and palliative care.
Western University	Required humanities curriculum that consists of lectures by a clinician during pre-clerkship, and a major independent project in second year. Its subject areas include ethics, law, literature and theatre. Also offered is a fourth-year elective in medicine and film, for which the final assignment is to write a story.
University of Toronto	Required coursework consisting of 52 hr of lectures and case-based seminars in the first 2 years which are devoted to themes of professionalism, ethics and health law. An elective called “The Healer’s Art” is also offered.
Memorial University of Newfoundland	Film, literature, and history are integrated into the required Humanities, Ethics, Law and Medicine course for both first and second year, which is a fully evaluated component of the Clinical Skills course.

Modified with permission of author