Medicine in Contemporary Society (MCS) Selectives

Art observation and diagnostic medicine refers to the use of art and visual arts education to enhance medical students' observation skills, visual literacy, and, ultimately, their diagnostic abilities. As the field of medicine grows more streamlined, physicians are spending less time with their patients.  There is much evidence that this decrease in time, coupled with increased reliance on imaging and test results, can depersonalize the illness experience, resulting in both emotional dissatisfaction and reduced accuracy of diagnosis.  This course demonstrates how the humanities, including visual arts, can improve physicians' ability to "see" and interpret clinical information effectively. 

Note: This selective has one field trip (local).

Faculty: Dr. Michael Vetrano

Through the study of poetry as it relates to the medical experience, we hope to foster a closer type of critical reading, an ability for a caregiver to understand and convey the needs of a patient, and an appreciation of the common concerns of the healing professions. This selective is designed for students interested in reflecting on their experience in medical school through the medium of poetry. It is open to students who have never written poetry, as well as to those who have pursued poetry in the past and wish to re-visit their Muse.

Faculty: Dr. Jack Coulehan and Dr. Richard Bronson

This four-session experiential course introduces medical students to the field of Child Life and its critical role in supporting hospitalized children and their families.

Note: The selective may meet at times outside of the regular MCS Selective dates. Please check the syllabus for dates and times and be sure you can accommodate them.

Faculty: Michael Attard

Much of the discourse in contemporary medical ethics focuses on the relationship of mature and autonomous patients to their physicians. The world of children as patients is therefore a unique world since these youngest patients have limited ability for self-determination and limited legal status as minors. Those who specialize in the treatment of neonates, children, and adolescents find themselves in a ethically and legally complicated world in which the treatment of a patient as a person is a uniquely challenging ideal.

Faculty: Dr. Rina Meyer and Dr. Kathy Culver

This Selective will introduce medical students to healthcare data analytics and how it can be used to improve the delivery of healthcare services. The goal is to help students improve their understanding of patient populations in Suffolk County, to whom they will provide medical care during their clinical years. By understanding and using available data sources, students will learn to identify trends and gaps with respect to various health issues within the context of being a “Health Commissioner for a Day,” who can design potential strategies to mitigate health disparities in Suffolk County.

Faculty: Dr. Cordia Beverley and Dr. Rajarsi Gupta

This selective introduces medical students to the legal landscape in which clinical care actually occurs. Rather than treating law as a set of abstract rules or litigation risks, this course examines law as a structural force that shapes medical authority, clinical judgment, patient autonomy, institutional power, and moral distress. Through real cases, clinical hypotheticals, and group discussion, students will learn how legal standards intersect (often imperfectly!) with ethical obligations, professional identity, and the realities of patient care.

Note: This selective may require participation by Zoom.

Faculty: Caitlyn Tabor, JD

This selective will present the role of hospice in the terminal care of the dying.  As palliative care, hospice offers a method of care that has become main-stream, unlike it had been in the early days of modern medicine.

Faculty: Kathy Van Steen

All patient care begins with a story. But how well trained are we to listen and respond to stories in a meaningful way? In this selective, we will borrow from the world of literature to develop our skills of close reading and reflective writing. In doing so, we will seek to hear our patients’ stories, understand the perspectives of our colleagues, and gain insight into ourselves.

Faculty: Dr. Susan Walker

Pain is one of the most common reasons that people seek medical attention in the United States today. Since 2000 it has been considered to be the "Fifth Vital Sign." For physicians the management and control of pain poses many ethical problems. Among these this course will consider the increased prescribing of opioid medications for patients with chronic pain, along with abuse, misuse, and addiction related to these medications. We will also examine the special issues of terminal sedation, physician assisted suicide, the legal and ethical issues involved in assisting people with intractable pain.

Faculty: Dr. Kevin Zacharoff

This Selective will examine Patient Safety and Quality Improvement strategies and evaluation techniques that can improve performance and outcome measures in the delivery of health care services throughout the continuum of care.

Faculty: Jean Mueller

Traumatic experiences can have lasting and wide-ranging physiological, emotional, and behavioral effects. These can interfere with patients’ ability to interact effectively with the health care system, earning them the label “difficult” while treatable conditions like PTSD go unrecognized. Trauma-informed care offers a blueprint for successfully engaging with trauma survivors—and other patients, too. This is a course about trauma and about patients we find behaviorally challenging, with lessons for how we care for all patients. 

Faculty: Dr. Erika Newton

The Selective will explore ethical practice with individuals with disabilities with a detailed focus on how to communicate and treat patients effectively.  Physicians with decades of experience with this patient population will serve as guest lecturers providing a case-based learning approach to best practice with patients with disabilities.  

Faculty: Dr. Michelle Ballan

Physicians will encounter sexual minority and gender-diverse patients in all areas of health care. Our goal in medicine should always be to promote access to comprehensive care and provide effective, appropriate, and affirming medical care for all patients. This selection will explore the developing realities in the treatment of, and advocacy for, gender-diverse patients.

Faculty: Dr. Allison Eliscu

Can we dismantle systemic and interpersonal racism in medicine? The Writing Away Racism Project (WARP) hopes to do just that! WARP is a series of creative writing workshops that offers safe spaces for attendees and facilitators to develop practical knowledge, skills and attitudes necessary to unlearn racism and promote anti-racist behavior. This MCS selective offers four highly interactive, memorable and effective workshops that use inspiring poetry and thought-provoking quotes to encourage authentic conversations and a transformative growth experience.
No prior writing experience is needed! Just your presence and willingness to engage with this immersive experience. The goal is to help transform students from being “not racist” to being “anti-racist” as this is more effective for dismantling racism in daily life and in healthcare. Through the power of deep listening and consistent critical reflection, WARP aims to humanize complex issues, empower students, and build a collective commitment to equity and inclusion in medicine.

Faculty: Dr. Maria Basile