A study of acceptability & feasibility of integrating humanities based study modules in undergraduate curriculum

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVES: The field of medical education in our country remains deeply fragmented and polarised between the biomedical technical domains which are overrepresented and the humanitarian domains which are under-represented within the universe of medical pedagogy. To overcome this imbalance, we designed a module that integrates the two domains in a holistic biomedical and socio-cultural framework with the objective of providing unified field of learning experience to the undergraduate medical students attending rotatory clinical postings in a medical college in New Delhi, India. METHODS: Undergraduate medical students of 6(th) and 8(th) semesters were enrolled in humanities based study module (HSM) on voluntary basis for a total duration of six months. During their compulsory rotatory medicine ward posting, they were introduced and exposed to learning bedside experience of HSM with various tools of art and literature in the form of poem, short narratives, paintings, sketches and group discussions to express their feelings about patients’ sufferings. Students’ feed-back was recorded through an anonymized questionnaire. RESULT: Of the 235 students, 223 (95%) enrolled themselves voluntarily and 94 per cent (210 of 223) of them completed the total six month duration of the study module. Seventy three per cent of the students found HSM effective in improving their affective motivational behavior, 82 per cent found it effective in motivating them to learn more about core medical subjects, and 85 per cent wanted its continuation as part of medical curriculum. INTERPRETATION & CONCLUSIONS: The positive response of the students towards the HSM was an indicator of the potential for integrating the module within the undergraduate medical curriculum.