Person and Pandemic: Exploring Medical Humanism through the Arts, Johns Hopkins University

This course will build upon the professional identity formation activities taught through the Colleges Advising Program TIME sessions to deepen students’ exploration of the meaning of health, self, and professional identity. The instructors will utilize materials drawn from the humanities (music, poetry, literature, podcasts, movies, and visual works of art) with a particular focus on how infection, contagion, social distancing, death, and hope and belonging relate to the work of a physician. While highly relevant to students’ lived experience of the ongoing pandemic, the themes we will reflect upon together are also highly applicable to the day-to-day practice of medicine. We will utilize a range of artistic and creative works to not only help students make meaning of their experiences throughout their professional career but, in so doing, guide them in developing resiliency in their careers. Each day will consist of assigned artistic works to explore asynchronously combined with 2 hours of synchronous online reflections and discussion. The final day of the course will consist of students each presenting either a work of art they have selected or an original work with a discussion of the themes and values these works demonstrate. No prior artistic or creative experience is necessary. This information has been collected for the Post-Discipline Online Syllabus Database. The database explores the use of literature by schools of professional education in North America. It forms part of a larger project titled Post-Discipline: Literature, Professionalism, and the Crisis of the Humanities, led by Dr Merve Emre with the assistance of Dr Hayley G. Toth. You can find more information about the project at https://postdiscipline.english.ox.ac.uk/. Data was collected and accurate in 2021/22.