Medical/Health Humanities Community of Learning

Faculty Lead: Pamela Brett-MacLean, PhD

Overview

The Medical/Health Humanities Community of Learning (M/HH CoL) provides medical students with opportunities for individualized, interest-based exploration of the deeply interdisciplinary field of the medical/health humanities.

A joint effort involving the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry’s Arts & Humanities in Health & Medicine (AHHM) program and MSA AHHM Student Committee, the M/HH CoL offers opportunities for students to explore complex wonderings and questions relevant to health, health care, and medicine through the prism of the arts, humanities, and social sciences approaches and perspectives.

The M/HH CoL aims to provide a broader view of medicine and health care, supporting the intellectual curiosity and development of well-rounded, compassionate physicians, and scholarship and leadership in the medical/health humanities. It is envisioned as a “Ba” (“place”), or “a shared space for emerging relationships” in which knowledge is embedded and created (Nonaka & Konno, 1998, p. 40).

Objectives

Students who complete M/HH CoL requirements will demonstrate:

  • heightened ability to critically reflect on the roles and responsibilities of health-care practitioners
  • enhanced self- and other-awareness and responsiveness, personal growth and professional development
  • skill in critical reflection and thoughtfulness with respect to complex ethical and other challenging issues in medicine
  • enhanced comfort with, and ability to navigate ambiguity and uncertainty in clinical situations
  • ability to role model compassionate care, and serve as mentors and leaders committed to helping create a better future for health, health care, and medicine, through M/HH and other approaches

Curriculum

The M/HH CoL includes curricular, co-curricular, and scholarship/leadership components. Directed to developmental learning, requirements include fulfilment of 90 hours across four categories of activity:

Orienting to/Engaging in M/HH:
  • Students must complete at least one of two AHHM “gateway” electives — “The Healer’s Art: Remembering the Heart of Medicine” and/or “Border Crossings: Introduction to M/HH” (both ~12 hours).
  • Students must participate in Interest Group meetings, attend M/HH events, etc. (~20 hours/minimum 16 hours).
Directed Exploration:
  • Students must complete two or more AHHM or other M/HH electives (~36 hours/minimum 24 hours).
  • Students are encouraged to attend events, participate in discussions, and reflect on their engagement in M/HH to cultivate and nourish their understanding of this deeply interdisciplinary field.
Contributing to M/HH:
  • Students must contribute leadership, scholarship, other creative projects, development of curricula, etc. (~25 hours/minimum 10 hours).
  • Requirements can be fulfilled through scholarship as well as leadership contributions.Many student-initiated and student-led M/HH activities have been introduced at the U of A.
  • Students can also fulfil this requirement by completing an independent project that results in a publication or presentation.
  • Other creative options include narrative, poetry, films, plays, podcasts, curriculum modules and electives, policy briefs, etc., as well as curricular contributions.
Ongoing Exploration:
  • This includes additional M/HH-related learning experiences, such as book club, film group, lectures, etc. (~40 hours/no minimum).
  • Offering great flexibility, surplus accumulated hours in different categories can be flexed forward to meet activity-hour requirements.
Structures and Processes
  • To encourage participation in M/HH opportunities, enrolled students are subscribed to AHHM e-news (e-notices of local, in-person events) and AHHM Updates Google Group (e-notices regarding online events organized around the world).
  • Students are encouraged to participate in M/HH CoL events through all four years of medical school (“Meet and Greet” social events, monthly Interest Group meetings, etc.).
  • Students are required to track their M/HH activity and related contributions (providing supporting details) using individualized Google Forms to ensure an up-to-date record of the progress they are making in fulfilling M/HH CoL requirements.
  • Students meet once a year with the Faculty Lead to discuss their progress and future plans (usually in April).
  • Completion of 90 hours of activity is awarded "Level 1" recognition, with a certificate attesting to "fulfilment of M/HH CoL requirements" signed by the MD Program, Associate Dean and M/HH CoL Faculty Lead.
  • Recognizing some students invest many more than 90 hours toward M/HH scholarship and leadership activities, a signed certificate attesting to "distinguished fulfilment of M/HH CoL requirements" is provided to students who accumulate 160+ hours of documented activity ("Level 2" recognition).
  • AHHM “Associate” status is conferred on students who complete M/HH CoL requirements.

Timeline

A session introducing the M/HH CoL to the incoming medical school class is scheduled in August during Orientation Week.

Students are encouraged to apply to join the M/HH CoL during the first two years of medical school. The application deadline for Year 1 students is at the end of January, and the end of November for Year 2 students. Exceptions may be considered for Year 3 and 4 students who provide evidence of participation in M/HH electives and activities during pre-clerkship.

M/HH CoL requirements can be completed during the first two years, or through all four years of medical school.

Additional Information

Completion of AHHM and other M/HH-related electives listed in the MD Program’s Pre-Clerkship Electives Catalogue fulfils the MD Program’s requirement to complete a minimum of 12 hours of electives during Year 1 and 2.

Students can apply for up to $500 of travel funding support to present their scholarly work at conferences (for information about the application process, see MedSIS).

Introduced in 2018 on a pilot basis, through the past few years participation in this community of learning was informally based on tracked activity prompted by completion of pre-clerkship “gateway” electives and other recorded M/HH involvement. As of the 2022/23 academic year, this has been replaced by a formal application process for the incoming Med 2026 class.

M/HH-related electives and other activities are open to all interested students including those who do not intend to complete M/HH CoL requirements.

Contact Information

For more information and application details, contact ahhm@ualberta.ca.