Programs

The Division of Medical Humanities was created in 1982, with the help of a three-year start-up grant from the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation, to help integrate the insights and methods of the humanities into medical education and medical practice. The following overview is a brief synopsis of activities the Division has undertaken.
 

  Teaching

The primary responsibility of the faculty of the Division of Medical Humanities is to provide education to health care professionals and students throughout UAMS and the broader medical community. The faculty offers educational opportunities in many forums, using various media, for hundreds of people each year.

• College of Medicine Medical Student Ethics Course

  A course in medical ethics is required of all second-year medical students. The course uses case presentations and small group discussions led by physician and humanities faculty to explore issues such as confidentiality, truth telling, informed consent, refusal of life-sustaining treatment, euthanasia, cost containment, and allocation of scarce resources. The course continues with ethics conferences in the third-year clinical clerkships.

                 More information on the medical student ethics course

   

• Senior medical Student Electives Course

  The fourth year of medical school at UAMS is primarily constituted by elective courses.  The Division offers a number of elective seminars that meet in the evening once a week for a semester.  Students explore medical themes from the perspectives of literature, history, anthropology, law, and communication theory.

                    More on medical student senior electives in humanities

   

• Residency and Fellowship (Housestaff) Ethics

  Provide a basis for ethical considerations during residency and fellowship training at DAMS and ACH, the Division has provided web-based material for an 8­module ethics course administered by the DAMS Office of Graduate Medical Education.

                   More on the housestaff ethics curriculum

   

• Continuing Education in Ethics and Humanities

  The Divisions provides several opportunities during the year for health care professionals to gain continuing education credit in fields such as medicine, nursing, and social work. The forums for this education vary from an annual two-day intensive workshop to monthly hour-long ethics discussions.

Intensive Workshop in Ethics and Humanities

In May of each year, the Division offers a two-day intensive workshop in ethics and humanities. Day one consists of presentations and discussion on "basic" ethical concepts in healthcare, while day two provides an opportunity to explore a particular topic (this topic changes annually). Participants may attend one or both days depending on their experience, needs, and interests.

             More on the intensive workshop

 

Medical Humanities Grand Rounds

Several times per year, the Division sponsors presentations in ethics and humanities by leading scholars in the field. These presentations are open to the public.

               More on grand rounds

 

Monthly Ethics Discussions

Each month, both DAMS and Arkansas Children's Hospital (ACH) play host to informal, audience focused, ethics discussions led by members of the staff, as well as outside guests. These discussions focus on cases and policies of ethical concern, and are intended to be opportunities for people to learn from each other in a multi-disciplinary open forum.  

	More on First Tuesday Ethics Discussions (ACH)
	More on Third Wednesday Ethics Discussions (UAMS)

 

Research

Division faculty actively pursue scholarship and research in their fields of specialization and have published numerous books and journal articles. Individual faculty members have national reputations in the areas of end-of-life care, geriatric issues, pediatric ethics, Civil War medicine, and narrative medicine, to name but a few areas of concentration. For a more detailed presentation of their work, please consult our faculty pages.

Professional Service

The Division serves the greater professional community in numerous ways. Our faculty members sit on local, regional, and national committees, serve on editorial boards, and hold office in their respective professional societies. A consultation service is available for ethically challenging cases. In addition, faculty members present numerous talks and workshops each year at the request of others (we are happy to honor such requests as schedules permit-please contact us).

Examples of service

. Executive Editor: Literature &Medicine (Anderson)

· Editorial Boards: Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics (Hackler),

       Health Care Analysis (Hackler), William James Studies (Hester)

. Officers in Professional Societies: History of Medicine (Pitcock), William

        James Society (Hester)

· Other Initiatives: Pediatric Ethics Consortium (Hester); Pediatric Ethics

         Affinity Group of ASBH (Hester)