Variation in medical humanities program mission statements in United States and Canadian Medical Schools

Abstract

Purpose

In 2019, the American Association of Medical Colleges (AAMC) identified the discipline of medical humanities as a priority in medical education. Although medical humanities programs have existed in medical and osteopathic schools in the U.S. and Canada since the late 1960’s, this interdisciplinary field remains difficult to define. We studied the mission statements of medical humanities programs to identify core themes and priorities.

Materials and methods

We conducted a content analysis of U.S. and Canada medical humanities MD and DO mission statements and associated descriptions (n = 56). We compared themes across programs whose directors had a clinical degree versus a terminal research degree, conducted comparisons between medical humanities programs housed in medical schools ranked in Top 20 U.S. News and World Report for Research or Primary Care, and conducted a word frequency analysis.

Results

Content analysis revealed five themes: improving patient care, improving the provider experience, generating scholarship, cultivating community relationships, and promoting diversity/sociocultural awareness. 70% of programs emphasized patient care and provider experience. Only 34% included the promotion of diversity/sociocultural awareness as a theme. Word frequency analysis corroborated our findings.

Conclusions

U.S. and Canada medical humanities programs focus primarily on improving patient care and provider wellness.

Keywords:

• Ethics/attitudes
• multiprofessional
• community-oriented
• health promotion
• medicine

Acknowledgments

We thank Victoria L. Bartlett, MD for her assistance with data analysis.

Disclosure statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the article.

Glossary

Mission statement: A mission statement is an institutional outlook that conveys a school or program’s values, priorities, and strategic plan. An analysis of mission statements can reveal how programs or schools define themselves.

Medical humanities: The medical humanities are an interdisciplinary field comprising subjects and curricular initiatives in the humanities, social sciences, visual, and performing arts that explore the social contexts of illness and medical practice.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Zoe M. Adams

Zoe M. Adams, MD, MA is an intern at Massachusetts General Hospital.

Kedous Mekbib

Kedous Mekbib is a medical student at Yale School of Medicine.

John Encandela

John Encandela, PhD is an Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Yale School of Medicine.

Anna Reisman

Anna Reisman, MD is a Professor in the Department of Internal Medicine, Yale School of Medicine.