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

   

• HELP (Humanities, Ethics, Law and Professionalism)

  The UAMS Division of Medical Humanities has begun a new educational initiative—HELP (Humanities, Ethics, Law, and Professionalism).  All our educational efforts now fall under the HELP umbrella as we try both to clarify and expand our efforts to HELP the UAMS and broader community.

   

  • First Tuesday Ethics Discussion (FTED):   Each month, Arkansas Children’s Hospital (as part of the HELP initiative) sponsors a monthly discussion of ethical issues in pediatric care.  The speakers come primarily from the ACH community with emphasis on ethical topics that lend themselves to open discussion.  These FTEDs are open to all

   

  • Intensive Workshop in Health Care Ethics:  In the Spring of each year, the Arkansas Ethics Consortium (hosted by UAMS) sponsors a two-day intensive HELP workshop.  The workshop is designed for anyone interested in learning more about ethical and legal issues in medical care.  The first day presents basic concepts in ethics and health law, and the second day focuses on a different specific HELPing topic each year.

   

  	More on First Tuesday Ethics Discussions (ACH)
  	More on Intensive Workshop in Health Care Ethics

   

  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)