We are seeking high quality blog posts on a broad range of issues related to health humanities. We especially look for submissions on themes related to social justice, global outreach, and inclusivity. We believe that the work of medical humanities is deeply entrenched in ethics, so we encourage reflections on our moral obligations toward beings enmeshed […]
Latest articles
CFP: Contribute to BMJ’s Medical Humanities Journal!
I’m Brandy Schillace, Editor in Chief of BMJ’s Medical Humanities Journal, an official journal of the Institute of Medical Ethics. We’ve spent the last four years working toward social justice, accessibility, global outreach, and inclusivity. We’ve welcomed research and writing from the LGBTQ and disability community, and included podcasts with activists and others dedicated to […]
Turning Good Intentions into Good Outcomes: Ethical Dilemmas at a Student-Run Clinic and a Rubric for Reflective Action
Blog by Nicholas Peoples, Thomas Gebert and Dana L Clark Student-run clinics represent a unique medical education and healthcare delivery model powered largely by good intentions. These good intentions may produce questionable results, however, when juxtaposed with intense academic pressure for students to fill their curriculum vitae with personal achievements, leadership roles, and peer-reviewed publications. […]
Creating Comics, Songs and Poems
Article Summary by Muna Al-Jawad, Neil Singh and Gaurish Chawla Decolonising is now a commonly used buzzword in higher education, but what does it feel like in practice? This paper captures the reflections – both analytical and creative – of three healthcare workers and academics in medical education in the UK. We hope to make […]
Imagining New Humanities-Based Interventions to Address Caregiver Burden in Chronic Illness
Blog by Rita Dexter, MA As more and more medical schools incorporate medical humanities courses into their curriculum, their long-lasting impacts on the perspectives of our future physicians appear tangible.1 While we certainly need more empathetic and thoughtful physicians, medical humanities has the capacity to extend its reach beyond medical school education to help the […]
Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis: Interdisciplinary Creative Art Practice and Nature Connections
Article Summary by Catherine Baker, Nina Morris, Athanasios Tsirikos, Olga Fotakopoulou and Flora Parrott Whilst Scoliosis isn’t rare, very few people had heard of it and therefore, don’t understand the impact that it can have on the lives of those diagnosed and the people they share their lives with. Most cases affect children and young […]
Scenario Planning, Healthcare, and the Humanities
Podcast with Matt Finch and Matthew Molineux In this podcast, Brandy Schillace (EIC) and Cristina Hanganu-Bresch (Blog and Associate Editor) talk to Matt Finch and Matthew Molineux about how scenario planning can help inform decisions about healthcare and the role of narrative in building scenarios that teach and humanize the health professions. You can also […]
Narrative Medicine Theory and Practice: The Double Helix Model
Article Summary by Liam Butchart and Shabnam Parsa In the medical humanities, narrative medicine—the academic field that uses the study of patient and provider stories to better understand illness experiences and to heal—has become a dominant school of thought. “Narrative Medicine Theory and Practice: The Double Helix Model” critically examines this approach. Whereas the current […]
Illness and (Hyper)Masculinity in ‘HIMM’ Ccomics from the USA
Article Summary by Paul Mitchell In “Illness and (Hyper)Masculinity in HIMM Comics from the USA”, I explore how three cartoonists graphically depict their personal experiences of illness. The texts that I analyse, My Degeneration (Peter Dunlap-Shohl), Relatively Indolent but Relentless (Matt Freedman) and The Hospital Suite (John Porcellino) deal with diverse health problems, from Parkinson’s […]
The Paradox of Memory
Film Review of Memory (Michel Franco, USA, 2023) by Dr Khalid Ali, film, and media correspondent Film is on UK and Irish cinemas from Friday 23.2.2024, https://memoryfilm.uk/ Michel Franco, award-winning Mexican film director (figure 1), is a keen observer of the nature and dynamics of relationships between ailing patients and their paid carers. In ‘Chronic’ […]
Physicians and Patients Should Be Steering the Healthcare Ship
Book Review by Janina Levin Drew Remignanti, The Healing Connection: A Partnership for Your Health (Something or Other Publishing, 2023. ISBN-13: 978-1954102156). Analyses of healthcare of systems in the US (and the UK) have laid bare alarming asymmetries of power. Hypocrisy is the hidden message in medical education. Insurance companies and hospital administrators influence doctors’ […]