Life's problems and people are often complex, ambiguous and soft to the touch. This holds true even in the medical sciences and professions that require precision in data collection and analysis; critical thinking skills and a broad, flexible world view are therefore necessary components of a balanced education. The School of Medicine's dean, Lloyd Minor, MD, explains in a recent op-ed for the Stanford Daily why anyone invested or even interested in medicine should pay attention to the humanities.
From the piece:
Consider the child with autism or the adult with Alzheimer’s disease. A physician can make a diagnosis but cannot offer a cure or a satisfying answer to the question “why?” Even for conditions that we can prevent or treat, patient behavior can significantly impact the success or failure of an intervention. For the hypertensive patient, no amount of prescribed medication will impact the social factors that may be inhibiting lifestyle modification. The specificity of scientific interventions does not account for the messiness of human life.
We as physicians heal best when we listen to and communicate with our patients and seek to understand the challenges they face in their lives. The perspectives on illness, emotions and the human condition we gain from literature, religion and philosophy provide us with important contexts for fulfilling these roles and responsibilities.
Previously: Becoming Doctors: Stanford med students reflect and share experiences through podcasts, Thoughts on the arts and humanities in shaping a medical career, Encouraging alternative routes to medical school and Stanford dean discusses changing expectations for medical students
