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The article “Why We Need the Humanities to Improve Health Care” highlights an increasing interest in a newly emerging field of medical humanities in nursing education and medical organizations. Hall (2014) emphasized the important role of humanities in medical care that comes through listening to music, telling stories, and enjoying art. Two concepts that I found particularly meaningful in this work are the fact that music is helpful for people with Alzheimer’s disease and that humanity disciplines are getting integrated into the education programs in different universities. First of all, according to the author, the Music and Memory program can help caregivers to connect with patients with Alzheimer’s disease or people with dementia (Hall, 2014). From the example of a 94-year-old nursing home resident, the author demonstrates that music can benefit patients emotionally, improving their mood and communication. In Toronto, there is even a practice of providing Alzheimer’s patients with iPods to listen to their favorite music. I found this aspect of medical humanities mentioned in the article highly relevant as it demonstrates a real case of the help that medical humanities can give to patients.
Secondly, the text mentions that a number of different educational institutions and medical organizations throughout the country are implementing the medical humanities disciplines in their programs. In particular, the author states that a one—year program at Columbia University offers courses in philosophy, arts, and literature to medical students, where they learn to increase their reflective practices and enhance their observational skills (Hall, 2014). The idea of teaching humanities to practitioners seems quite meaningful to me as these courses can help caregivers to understand the human side of the provided care.
Finally, the question that I would like to ask the nursing leadership in my organization is whether there is a possibility to conduct field research to assess the effectiveness of integrating the medical humanities into the nursing practice. I believe that by conducting a study and using the medical humanities in practice, we will be able to see the real evidence of whether medical humanities is relevant and worth implementing.
Reference
Hall, E. J. (2014). Why we need the humanities to improve health care. HuffPost. Web.
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