The Health & Medical Humanities are relatively new fields of study integrating medicine and health with the arts, humanities, and social sciences. The minor in Health & Medical Humanities is an 18-hour interdisciplinary program designed to offer students an introduction to the fields, and to build competency in the subject through courses in a number of departments in the Colleges of Arts & Humanities, the College of Sciences, and the College of Education & Professional Studies. Recent scholarship reveals that many of the skills and approaches of the arts, humanities, and social sciences can valuably enhance the education of doctors, nurses, and indeed all health professionals, offering ways to translate clinical scientific knowledge into meaningful patient care. The Humanities offer a complementary approach to examining and understanding the profound effects of illness and disease, of wellness and health - adding meaning to measurement.
Topics addressed by the Health & Medical Humanities that will be studied in the minor include: the history of medicine; humanistic investigations into health-care policy and bio-politics; considerations of race, gender, and socio-economic status in medicine and public health; bioethics and medical ethics; the importance of understanding narrative in diagnostics and patient care (“narrative medicine”); and the roles of creativity, arts-educated observation, and aesthetics (music, visual arts, theatre, and literature) in health and medicine.
Our primary aims in developing the minor in Health & Medical Humanities is to offer students in the Arts & Humanities the possibility of applying their skills and methods in fields that need these skills, and to provide students in areas of study in medicine and health (i.e., pre-med, pre-health, health promotion, etc.) the possibility of augmenting their scientific knowledge, and demonstrating competency in this area of growing significance in the fields of health and medicine. We want also to encourage departments to develop curriculum to address pressing medical and health concerns through the interdisciplinary tools offered by the arts, humanities, and social sciences, and to work interdepartmentally in developing such courses. In the near future, we anticipate working with local and regional entities to create internships in the field in creating a capstone experience that would integrate community and service learning.
Most courses listed below are offered on a regular basis; these, as well as special topics courses in multiple departments, may be taken for credit toward the minor with permission of the Minor Coordinator. Once you have decided on the minor, you should contact the Center for the Humanities and also declare the minor with your major advisor as soon as possible. For more information about the minor, please email: humanitiescenter@eiu.edu. Additional information about courses offered in the minor can be found on the Center for the Humanities homepage: https://www.eiu.edu/doudna/humanities.php.
Total Semester Hours: 18
