Abstract

BORDALLO, Javier; CANTABRANA, Begoña  and  HIDALGO, Agustín. Role of literature in medical formation: an experience in the second year of Medicine Degree in the University of Oviedo. FEM (Ed. impresa) [online]. 2016, vol.19, n.6, pp.301-310. ISSN 2014-9840.

Introduction. Literature is one of the humanistic disciplines playing a role in the training of medical students. Subjects and methods. The activity has been performed over three academic years included in an optional subject of the second year of the Medicine Degree. Professor introduced the activity and showed examples of the relationship between literature and aspects of the medical profession in a two-hour class. Then, students chosen a book and prepared a written assignment on such book. Results. An increasing number of students (from 54 to 127) have taken the course; a total of 90 books were used (45.5% published after 2000) being El árbol de la ciencia (The Tree of Knowledge), the most commented one. Infectious (15.5%), psychiatric (15.5%), neurologic (13.8%) and oncologic diseases (10.3%) were the most frequently discussed and issues related to doctors (33.1%), patients (22.1%) and the doctor-patient relationship were the most frequently cited. Students' scores on the activity ranged from 8.3 and 9 (out of 10) in the three years. Opinions regarding the activity have been positive and it has been considered useful for different aspects of Medicine: the humanistic formation (4.5 out of 5), the doctor-patient relationship (4.5), the patient's attitude towards disease (4.4) or the social dimension of disease (4.4). Conclusion. The activity has been favorably evaluated by students who consider it useful in the training of medical students.

Keywords : Humanist formation; Literature; Medical teacher.

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