The medical humanities at United States medical schools: a mixed method analysis of publicly assessable information on 31 schools

INTRODUCTION: There have been increasing efforts to integrate the arts and humanities into medical education, particularly during undergraduate medical education (UME). Previous studies, however, have focused on courses and curricular programming without rigorous characterization of the associated paracurricular environment or infrastructure enabling or facilitating these offerings. METHODS: To assess opportunities for students to engage the arts and humanities during their medical education as well as the institutional resources to support those opportunities, we developed the Humanities and Arts Programming Scale (HARPS): an 18-point scale involving eight sub-domains (Infrastructure, Curricular Opportunities, Extracurricular Engagement, Opportunities for Immersion, Faculty Engagement, Staff Support, Student Groups, and Scholarship). This scale was used to evaluate the top-31 ranked United States medical schools as determined by US News and World Report’s (USWNR) Medical School Research Rankings using information derived from public-facing, online information. RESULTS: Mean cumulative HARPS score was 11.26, with a median score of 12, a standard deviation of 4.32 and a score range of 3–17. Neither USWNR ranking nor private/public institution status were associated with the cumulative score (p = 0.121, p = 0.739). 52% of institutions surveyed had a humanities-focused center/division with more than 70% of the schools having significant (> 5) faculty engaged in the medical humanities. 65% of schools offered 10 or more paracurricular medical humanities events annually, while 68% of the institutions had more than 5 medical humanities student organizations. While elective, non-credit courses are available, only 3 schools required instruction in the arts and humanities, and comprehensive immersive experiences in the medical humanities were present in only 29% of the schools. CONCLUSIONS: Although there is a significant presence of the medical humanities in UME, there is a need for integration of the arts and humanities into required UME curricula and into immersive pathways for engaging the medical humanities. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12909-023-04564-y.