Medicine in Contemporary Society (MCS) Core Curriculum
Areas of Focus
Medical Humanities
It is through the humanities that health professionals are sensitized to the patient
as a person coping with illness against the background of a healthcare system that
can often be de-humanizing. It is through the writing of novels, short stories and
poems that professionals and those coping with illness can express their insights
and experiences. MCS gives students an opportunity to expand their knowledge of ethical,
social, cultural, and humanistic issues in medicine in a manner reflective of their
own career choices and particular interests. MCS focuses on mastery of knowledge and
attitudes related especially to the following core competencies: professionalism and
ethics, communication, self-awareness, social context of medical care, and health
care systems.
Compassionate Care
The art of healing requires compassion and emotional intelligence on the part of clinicians,
yet many patients and their families do not experience care in this basic sense. As
the connection between healing and emotions becomes better understood scientifically,
we need to renew a commitment to compassionate care that is grounded in leading edge
research, scholarship, and educational efforts.
Bioethics
Bioethics is the systematic study of the moral dimensions – including moral vision,
decisions, conduct, and policies – of the life sciences and health care, employing
a variety of ethical methodologies in an interdisciplinary setting. From the beginning
to the end of life, biotechnologies and healthcare raise every conceivable question
about human dignity and the very future of human nature itself.
Core Units Offered
Date | Topic | Faculty | Divisions |
---|---|---|---|
8/31 | What is the Illness experience | Dr. Vetrano & Dr. Paul Levin | The Illness Experience |
9/21 | Physician Empathy and Clinical Outcomes | Dr. Stephen Post | The Illness Experience |
10/5 | Medicine as a Profession | Dr. Jack Coluehan | The Illness Experience |
10/19 | Health Care Inequalities / Disparities | Dr. Phyllis Migdal | The Illness Experience |
11/2 | Pain/Ethics/Substance Abuse | Dr. Kevin Zacharoff | Compassionate Care |
11/9 | Autonomy: Respecting the Patient's Self-Determination | Dr. Vetrano | Compassionate Care |
12/14 | The Ethics of Gender and Identity- working with LGBTQ+ Persons | TBA | Compassionate Care |
12/21 | The influence of Marketing on Research, Prescribing, and Decision Making | Dr. Peter Viccellio | Compassionate Care |
1/4 | Directives and Decisions | Dr. Vetrano | Bioethics: Ethical Standards in the Clinical Setting |
1/18 | Narrative Medicine | Dr. Jack Coluehan | Bioethics: Ethical Standards in the Clinical Setting |
1/25 | Professional Duties | Dr. Agris & Dr. Coulehan | Bioethics: Ethical Standards in the Clinical Setting |
2/8 | Facing Mortality- Spirituality and Health | Dr. Vetrano | Bioethics: Ethical Standards in the Clinical Setting |
3/29 | Addressing Structural Racism in Medicine: Our Role in Creating an Anti-Racist Health Care System | Drs. Zacharoff, Beverley, Jordan | Social Contexts of Care |
4/12 | Dementia and Society | Dr. Post | Social Contexts of Care |
4/26 | Respect for Human Subjects | Dr. Gelato | Social Contexts of Care |
5/10 | Medical Finance | Dr. Pasternak | Social Contexts of Care |