The need to teach medical professionalism, especially medical ethics, has been emphasized by medical educators. The aim of medical ethics education is providing the basic knowledge regarding ethical... Show More

The need to teach medical professionalism, especially medical ethics, has been emphasized by medical educators. The aim of medical ethics education is providing the basic knowledge regarding ethical analysis, enabling the students to develop the analytical skills for resolving the ethical dilemmas in clinical practice. But, a more important aspect is the assimilation of the core values of the profession by the students. The hidden curriculum, “the informal learning in which the students engage and which is unrelated to what is taught” (Harden, 2001, p.16) has a greater role in imparting education regarding the humanistic aspects of medical practice than the formal curriculum. Experiences of the medical students in the clinical setting should be considered significant for ethics education by the teachers. A review of the experiences of the students and the ethical dilemmas they face during the clinical clerkships is provided and their impact on the moral development of the students is analysed.

Bioethics is now regarded as an integral part of contemporary medical education across the world. This proposal of integration of Bioethics in phase one undergraduate medical curriculum is, to... Show More

Bioethics is now regarded as an integral part of contemporary medical education across the world. This proposal of integration of Bioethics in phase one undergraduate medical curriculum is, to bridge the gap between classroom learning, bedside application and further in community practice to give better health care and a good harmony between Doctors and Society. This aims in covering the curricular approaches in order to enforce values of bioethical principles in medical practice.

In June 2011, Infinite Ability, a new special interest group on disability within the Medical Humanities Group was formed to explore disability through creativity. Disability studies are... Show More

In June 2011, Infinite Ability, a new special interest group on disability within the Medical Humanities Group was formed to explore disability through creativity. Disability studies are sporadically used in Medical Humanities program. Since persons with disabilities constitute a large minority, we need to bridge the gap so as to move towards social model of disability. The author describe an innovation of reaching people with disabled attitude through medical humanities and believes further research can help in incorporating new evidences towards achieving new special interest group on disability and initial activities in sensitizing people

Online learning has been found useful for faculty development programs in health professions education. The purpose of this paper is to report the online journal club discussion on the article... Show More

Online learning has been found useful for faculty development programs in health professions education. The purpose of this paper is to report the online journal club discussion on the article “Health Professionals for a new century: transforming education to strengthen health systems in an interdependent world” published in The Lancet in 2010. This online discussion was conducted from 15th – 30th August 2012 in the MEU- India Google group. The discussion was divided into two parts and moderated by the authors of this paper. Sixteen medical educators participated in the discussion and there were 63 posts in the two weeks that the paper was discussed. The discussion indicated that there were gaps between health professions education and health needs. Translation of social accountability into action is an important step to bridge this gap. One of the uses of advances in information –technology is to have an online journal club discussion, which could be an effective tool for faculty development.

Use of Medical humanities to teach empathy started to come into being nearly 50 years ago. It has been introduced in most of the medical schools in the West for many years. In India the concept is... Show More

Use of Medical humanities to teach empathy started to come into being nearly 50 years ago. It has been introduced in most of the medical schools in the West for many years. In India the concept is still in its infancy with very few medical schools teaching the subject. This study was undertaken as a pilot project at the Hamdard Institute of Medical Sciences and Research, New Delhi to introduce the concept of empathy through medical humanities to undergraduate students. Students were explained the definition, meaning, scope and purpose of medical humanities. The authors aimed at sensitising the students to the importance of the public image of their profession through humour/jokes. The students were encouraged to discuss and reflect on the reasons for a negative image. The session ended by asking for commitment on their part to behave in a more ethical and professional manner once they start practicing medicine. The session was appreciated by most of the students. Majority agreed that medical humanities was an interesting way to develop empathy in doctors and develop ethical values, professionalism and communication skills. It is imperative that communication skills, professionalism and ethics are integrated into medical curriculum at all stages to inculcate empathy in medical students. Medical humanities modules are an interesting way of achieving this aim. Humour has been used as a pedagogic and communication tool in medicine. Its use for reflection and analysis of a situation or as a tool of social commentary to bring about corrective change can be explored. Further research in the subject is required; curriculum needs to be defined, teachers need to be educated and trained.

To compare constructivist and traditional power point teaching modalities in a cardiology workshop for medical undergraduates. The purpose of introducing the constructivist method was to activate... Show More

To compare constructivist and traditional power point teaching modalities in a cardiology workshop for medical undergraduates. The purpose of introducing the constructivist method was to activate the cognitive domain of the students and promote self learning. A cross sectional qualitative and quantitative study was planned on hundred, second and third professional medical students (III to IX semester) who were screened to participate. Topics discussed with the constructivist method were clinical case discussion, basic and advanced cardiac life support, electrocardiography, and community cardiology. The traditional power point method topics discussed were cardiac surgeries, paediatric cardiology and advanced diagnostic cardiology. Assessment on feedback of the students and interpretation of the interviews of medical educators, students and patients and grading of lectures from 0-10 was undertaken. Seventy two percent liked the active participation of students in the constructivist method of teaching. Seventy two percent of the participants found power point presentations as monotonous and no different from the usual didactic lectures conducted in the class room teaching. There was an up gradation of scores after the teaching sessions for clinical case discussion, ECG, BLS/ACLS and cardiac surgeries. The medical educators also found the constructivist method of teaching more practical. Constructivist method of teaching may be regarded as a new better way of teaching medical students as it considers the students as adult learners and promotes self learning.

The academic discussions on the way medical education needs to be reformed often revolve around how to make it more interesting & more clinically relevant, while any discussions regarding these... Show More

The academic discussions on the way medical education needs to be reformed often revolve around how to make it more interesting & more clinically relevant, while any discussions regarding these issues is welcome, it is equally essential to enlarge the scope of the debate on educational reform from merely focusing on skill related issues and pay attention to an equally important issue of shaping the outlook of a medical graduate who needs to become socially responsible. The paper highlights the depoliticized nature of medical education & its implications on the outlook of a medical graduate. It argues for a need to add a human touch to the medical curriculum, it looks into some initiatives taken in this direction while also arguing for the need to also learn from experiments in other disciplines.

Medicine is the art of relieving others of their suffering. It requires technology and methodologies that science has helped us develop. However the understanding of pain and its impact in peoples'... Show More

Medicine is the art of relieving others of their suffering. It requires technology and methodologies that science has helped us develop. However the understanding of pain and its impact in peoples' lives and on the society as a whole is often missed out in the skewed focus on the search for happiness (“Definition of happiness - state (British & World English),” n.d.). Pain is an important symptom that serves as a warning as well as a pointer for an illness. Here the authors re-examine the reasons that connect pain and suffering to artists and healers as well as the connection between an artist and a healer. It also dwells on the age old science versus arts argument and its validity.

The story of medical imaging starts on 8 Nov, 1895, when Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen accidentally discovered X rays. Since then it has undergone great technological advancements helping physicians create... Show More

The story of medical imaging starts on 8 Nov, 1895, when Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen accidentally discovered X rays. Since then it has undergone great technological advancements helping physicians create images of the human body to reveal, diagnose, or examine disease (X-ray, n.d). CT scans combine the use of computers and x-rays to create virtual 'slices' of what is inside our body without cutting it open. Earlier many diseases could only be confirmed at autopsy. In 2010, more than 5 billion medical imaging studies were completed done worldwide (X-ray computed tomography, n.d).

This commentary discusses the paper by Annaswamy Nalini, “The Significance of the Hidden Curriculum in Medical Ethics: Literature Review with Focus on Students' Experiences”. The ethical dilemmas... Show More

This commentary discusses the paper by Annaswamy Nalini, “The Significance of the Hidden Curriculum in Medical Ethics: Literature Review with Focus on Students' Experiences”. The ethical dilemmas encountered by students may be because of early induction of students into medicine. The rigours and demands of professional education also deny our adolescents the chance to grow. It is this fledgling state when the students need the guidance from near peers and role models the most. Ethical feedback and experiential methods under Medical Humanities have been suggested as a coping mechanism to reveal and address the “hidden” emotional ethical dilemmas.

The world will ever grow as the offspring are more intellectual and intelligent than their forefathers. So in the era of global explosion of knowledge and ever increasing information base with... Show More

The world will ever grow as the offspring are more intellectual and intelligent than their forefathers. So in the era of global explosion of knowledge and ever increasing information base with plenty of publications amidst immense improvements in information technology, we have to think of sharing our thinking with the descendants.

Empathy, compassion and kindness are some of the virtues that often get ignored amidst the tough study schedule, through the entire professional course. This is where a medical student loses those... Show More

Empathy, compassion and kindness are some of the virtues that often get ignored amidst the tough study schedule, through the entire professional course. This is where a medical student loses those virtues and compassion for humanity that on the first instance obligated him to join this stream of medicine, despite the odds. The medical humanities can have both instrumental and non-instrumental functions in a medical school curriculum. The instrumental functions are met through the different aspect of their curriculum but there is little room for non-instrumental functions. This article deals with the unique way of teaching learning humanities by means of an organization that was conceptualized and is being nurtured and managed by the medical students for the welfare of the patients and communities but what makes the organization unique in itself is in a sense that it is run by medical students, it teaches budding healers how to be a good human being with concern for society especially underprivileged section of society.

WHO estimates that every year around 15 million babies are born preterm. Of these, around 1 million babies die due to complications of preterm birth. Survival is dependent on the quality of health... Show More

WHO estimates that every year around 15 million babies are born preterm. Of these, around 1 million babies die due to complications of preterm birth. Survival is dependent on the quality of health care available to these babies. It is estimated that more than 3/4th of babies can be salvaged by timely and appropriate care. The author considered herself to be one of the privileged members of society, being a doctor themselves, living in a metropolitan society and having access to the best healthcare in the country. However, this overconfidence was rudely shaken when they ran from one hospital to another in search of a ventilator for their as yet unborn baby. The author's pregnancy and child birth brought them closer to the millions of parents who undergo the trauma of having a premature baby.

Reflective writing helps people to explore the larger context, the meaning, and the implications of an experience and action. When used well, it promotes the growth of the individual (William... Show More

Reflective writing helps people to explore the larger context, the meaning, and the implications of an experience and action. When used well, it promotes the growth of the individual (William, 2002). Just as personal illness narratives help patients understand their illnesses and help in healing similarly reflective writing by physicians can help them see and understand illness, pain and loss from a larger perspective. At the same time reflection on one's lapses or inadequacies can help in one's own healing. They also help people evolve into more empathic and self-aware practitioners (Sayatani, 2004). Here are two case studies which can be used to make future generation of doctors more human. The first raises the issue of the inadequate training and courage to admit one's mistakes. Whenever this happens people are the first casualty for one carries the burden for years when simple disclosure would have helped in the healing and helped in improving the doctor patient relationship by making doctors appear more human. The second advises struggling students and residents trying to find answers and develop reactions to deal with a situation when they can do nothing for patients (Lisa, 2011)—the answer is communication: engage with patients, simply listen to their stories and keep learning by listening.