May 10, 2024  
2014-2015 Caspersen School of Graduate Studies Catalog 
    
2014-2015 Caspersen School of Graduate Studies Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

Course Descriptions


 

Medical Humanities Program

  
  • MDHM 001 - Orientation to the Medical Humanities

    1 credits
    20
  
  • MDHM 104 - Advanced Studies in Medical Narrative

    3 credits
    Topics include: The Literature of Addiction. Course may be repeated.
  
  • MDHM 105 - Humanism and The Humanities

    3 credits
    This course provides an historical and conceptual overview of Western humanism and its evolution into the humanities disciplines. A main goal is to introduce students to central themes in humanistic thought, western humanism and its primary sources from antiquity, the Renaissance, the Scientific Revolution and the Enlightenment. The relations between the varieties of humanism and medicine and the modern split between scientific medicine and humanistic thought will be discussed. The class will also explore whether American society possesses any shared values on which to build a unified community that could frame the historical exploration of humanism and an approach to the medical humanities. A key outcome of the course will be to define medical humanities.
  
  • MDHM 200 - Cultural History of Medicine

    3 credits
    Starting with evidences of caring in lower animals, the story of medicine is traced from pre-history to the present. The theories of causation and the therapies designed to counteract disease and suffering are related to the epochs in which they make their appearances. Same as: MLIT+503
  
  • MDHM 201 - Medical Biography

    3 credits
    Topics include: Giovanni Battista Morgagni.
  
  • MDHM 202 - Plagues in History

    3 credits
    An examination of the relationship between the human population and the micro- and macro-parasites that interact with it. The nature of the ecological balance between people and their diseases is discussed, as well as the effects of both endemic and epidemic disease on history. Same as: MLIT+523
  
  • MDHM 204 - History of Scientific Medicine

    3 credits
    The science-based medicine of our time may not be the only medicine, but it is the one on which most of us rely. It affects our lives in countless ways, and an appreciation of its historical development is warranted. This course deals with the great scientific discoveries that made modern medicine possible. It tracecs the growth of anatomy, surgery, physiology and pathology in the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries, and examines more fully the extraordinary expansion and proliferation of medical sciences in the 19th and 20th centuries.
  
  • MDHM 222 - Topics in the History of Science and Medicine

    3 credits
    Topics include Secret of Life: History of Genetics in the 20th Century. Addotional topics will be announced at registration. Course may be repeated.
  
  • MDHM 304 - Writing Practicum

    3 credits
    Explores the intersection between medicine and the act/art of writing. Topics include: Writing to Heal.
  
  • MDHM 305 - Marriage and the Family

    3 credits
    Considers the impact of marriage decisions and structures on medical concerns. Topics include: marriage and family counseling; family structures and medical ethics; family dynamics.
  
  • MDHM 310 - Psychohistory-Psycobiography

    3 credits
    he emotional development and psychological issues of significant historical figures will be examined. How did the family life and early childhood and adolescence shape the future political and personal behavior of certain major political figures. We will examine the inner life, through their behavior, or Ghandi, Luther, Hitler, Woodrow Wilson, Sadam Hussein, and our last four presidents. Their adult presentation will be examined as a function of both their childhood and family dynamic.
  
  • MDHM 328 - Alcoholism & Gender: A Literary Analysis

    3 credits
    Topics vary and are announced at registration.
  
  • MDHM 401 - Clinical Ethics

    3 credits
    A study of the application of biomedical principles in the clinical arena, situations that require assessment of competing principles, and the process of resolution when differences in ethical judgments make consensus difficult. Among the topics to be considered are: the bioethics committee; end-of-life decisions, including Do Not Resuscitate Orders and Advance Directives; confidentiality, communication issues; just distribution of scarce resources and clinical decision-making within cost constraints.
  
  • MDHM 410 - The Pharmaceutical Industry

    3 credits
    This seminar will examine the growth of the Pharmaceutical Industry from its early beginnings to its present role as a multi-national, multi-billion-dollar industry. The course will introduce students to the drug discovery and development process from inception to market. Selected readings and discussions will analyze the following: inequalities that emerge from and are reinforced by market-driven medicine, the responsibilities of drug developers to health care and general wellness on a global scale and the controversial role pharmaceutical marketing and promotion play in enabling the flow of information that is quite difficult to convey to patients and doctors.
  
  • MDHM 501 - Psychopathology and Contemporary Life

    3 credits
    This course focuses on mastering the “Sea of Storms”–on the moon or in ourselves. With our expanding perspective of ourselves as an interdependent community of astronauts has come an expansion of our perspective of abnormal behavior. We now see it as encompassing behavior not only of individuals but also of families and larger groups, including entire societies. We explore maladaptive behavior such as neuroses, schizophrenia, and drug dependence.
  
  • MDHM 502 - Medical Humanities and the Caregiver

    3 credits
    Explores the humanistic challenges facing modern caregivers. Topics include: approaches to wellness; coping. Same as: MLIT+521
  
  • MDHM 503 - Maturation: From Birth to Age 3

    3 credits
    An experiential group seminar designed to explore an understanding of the group processes and the repertoire of techniques for working well with groups while exploring the theories, developmental stages, conflicts, and feelings associated with the maturation stage.
  
  • MDHM 510 - Spirituality and Medicine

    3 credits
    Explores the intersection between faith and the medical arts. Topics include: Spirituality and Psychoanalysis.
  
  • MDHM 515 - Contemporary Medicine and Culture

    3 credits
    Investigates the impact of contemporary societal influences and medicine. Topics include: Science, Medicine, and Faith. Course may be repeated. Same as: ARLT 515 
  
  • MDHM 529 - Medicine and Culture

    3 credits
    This course provides an international perspective on the interaction between religion, health and culture. Students are introduced to the empirical research on religion and health and various theoretical approaches from cross-cultural psychology and the psychology of religion. Students learn to critically evaluate this literature and develop their own perspective on it. Course may be repeated. Same as: ARLT 529 
  
  • MDHM 530 - Medicine and Language

    3 credits
    Course may be repeated.
  
  • MDHM 540 - Studies in Counseling

    2 credits
    Topics vary and are announced at the time of registration.
  
  • MDHM 600 - Film and Medicine

    3 credits
    Explores the depiction of medicine and medical practitioners through the medium of film. Course may be repeated.
  
  • MDHM 605 - History of Medical Illustration

    3 credits
    The purpose of this course is to introduce students to the history and theory of scientific illustration, both Western and non-Western and the methods for organizing, developing and producing illustrations capable of conveying a message. The course focuses on three main points: the history of medical illustration; the methods of planning and organizing of scientific illustrations, including research, narration of a process, technique; and field trips. Students need not have artistic ability, but are encouraged to think visually and try out some basic skills to better understand the process of moving from concepts to images.
  
  • MDHM 700 - Illness of Body, Mind, and Spirit

    3 credits
    Illness, be it physical, psychical, or spiritual, is defined not by physicians, psychiatrists, or spiritual leaders, but by culture. Its recognition is akin to the process of interpretation in the humanities. This course illustrates and examines these propositions in the reports of patients, physicians, spiritual guides, and literary critics.
  
  • MDHM 701 - Listening to the Symbolic Language of the Body

    3 credits
    The body has its own symbolic language. This means a communication from the self to the self often found in illness, ticks, hysterical conversions, muscle tightness, backaches, headaches, etc. The body often focuses the internal message, suppressed to the self by the psyche or the intellect. Various writers have attempted to understand this process for the sake of unraveling the meaning of illness. This course integrates a number of medical, spiritual, and psychological points of view. The course investigates the body-mind-spirit connection by turning to writers like Alexander Lowen, Daniel Goleman, Jon Kabat-Zinn, and Aame Siirala.
  
  • MDHM 705 - Philosophical Implications in Science and Medicine

    3 credits
    The intersection of medicine and science reflects culture, politics, and faith. Does it also intersect with two thousand years of Western philosophy? Or is the utopian Dream of a Theory of Everything epistemological jargon: The fragility of such an ambitious but ethereal theory encompasses a continuum of ideas traced from the era of Greek sages to the present postmodern times. To understand this enduring wisdom, the course presents diverse doctrine supporting the consilience of philosophy, science and the medical humanities. With this approach, we explore origins perceived by the minds and movements in the long history of ieas. The series of seminars emphasizes the correlation between classical studies and empiricism, encouraging scholars to probe thoughts and theories of established philosophies. However, beyond what is provided by an inquiring mind, participants are not required or expected to have a formal background in philosophy. The seminar features contributions of the Greek Godfathers of thought, Descartes’ Dualism, science of the Enlightenment, the challenging philosophy of Darwinism, the intellectual chaos of Freudian upheavals, American Pragmatism, Postmodernism in medicine, Existentialism, Feminism, and Sociobiology. Finally, a fixed Canon of the humanities is proposed to broaden and humanize medical education.
  
  • MDHM 706 - Topics in Theology and Philosophy of Medicine

    3 credits
    Topics vary and are announced at the time of registration.
  
  • MDHM 799 - Introduction to Medical Humanities and Humanism

    3 credits
     

    Medical Humanities is concerned with addressing the human side of medicine and as such draws theoretical, critical and practical insights from across the social sciences and the arts to explore the meanings attached to illness, disease, embodiment, disability and health encounters.  This course will connect today’s medical humanities to the tradition of Renaissance humanism and trace the history of medical humanities from its inception to the present day. Major topics include the relations between medical humanities and the social sciences; origins, development, and appropriate scope of bioethics; literature and medicine and narrative approaches to healthcare and Drew’s initiative to “do the medical humanities.” 14

  
  • MDHM 800 - Medical Anthropology

    3 credits
    A study of human health from an anthropological (e.g., evolutionary, comparative, and biocultural) perspective. Topics under consideration include evolution of human disease patterns, health and ethnicity, comparison of Western and non-Western systems of medicine, alternative and complementary medicine, the political economy of health, and emerging diseases. This course considers the interplay of culture, biology, and environment in influencing human disease and behavioral response to it. 14
  
  • MDHM 801 - Biomedical Ethics

    3 credits
    An examination of major medical care issues facing the discipline. Includes discussion of ethical and religious concerns involving abortion, death and dying, and human experimentation. 14
  
  • MDHM 802 - Medical Narrative

    3 credits
    This course will investigate the scope of narrative approaches to medical knowledge (narratives of illness, narrative as ethical discourse, narrative as an essential part of clinical work). It will introduce the student to varieties of medical narrative (anecdote, medical history, case presentation). The course will also explore narrative and interpretive techniques that may enhance communication between patient and physician and within the medical community as a whole.
  
  • MDHM 810 - Studies in Literature and Medicine

    3 credits
    Examines the role of medicine, caregivers, and illness in fiction and nonfiction. Topics include: contemporary ethical issues in American literature; The Literary Response to HIV/AIDS; Literary Art and The Medical Mind. Course may be repeated. 14 Same as: MLIT+328
  
  • MDHM 811 - Medical Sociology

    3 credits
    A study of the important themes, dominant theoretical perspectives, and main methodological approaches involved in the sociological analysis of health care problems and their treatment. Topics include social epidemiology, doctor-patient relationships, professional socialization, different health-care delivery mechanisms, and the social psychological consequences of medical technology.
  
  • MDHM 813 - Disease and Society: Past and Future Pandemics

    3 credits
    No Description Available.
  
  • MDHM 815 - The Politics of Public Health

    3 credits
    The course is an examination of current public health issues from the perspectives of critical medical anthropology and political ecology. Public health involves taking a population-based approach to health problems with a strong focus on ethical principles and issues of social justice both locally and globally. Within this framework, students analyze a number of problems and policy issues, some provided by the instructor and others that students themselves bring in from recent newspaper or other media sources. Topics may include health hazards of modern food production, behavioral intervention and the rise of obesity and diabetes, national healthcare vs. private insurance, vulnerable populations (e.g., the poor and the elderly), global health issues, disaster management, and rationing health care and vaccines. Analysis of these problems includes evaluating the quality of health information in the mass media and considering how health policy, law, and ethics handle tensions between individual rights and social responsibility. In addition to finding and studying these issues, students complete a research paper in a related area of their choice.
  
  • MDHM 817 - Naturalistic Inquiry

    3 credits
    Naturalistic inquiry, a form of ethnography, is a qualitative research methodology as opposed to the hypothetico-deductive methodology prevalent in the exact sciences of today. The primary research instrument is the interviewer. Basic techniques include in-depth interviewing and prolonged observation within the natural setting of a group. The interviews and observations are recorded in a “thick description,” which stays close to the actual experience and avoids theory-laden language. This course will provide instruction in the techniques of naturalistic inquiry for designing the study collecting and analyzing data, validating the results, and writing up a case report. This is a hands-on course where each student will be required to conduct a naturalistic inquiry of his or her own. Ideally, the topic would relate to the student’s ultimate thesis or dissertation topic. The course will also provide instruction in using computerized tools to assist in data analysis.
  
  • MDHM 818 - Pertinent Issues in Medical Humanities and Science

    3 credits
    Course may be repeated.
  
  • MDHM 819 - Topics in Forensic Medicine

    3 credits
    three module course sequence on issues in Forensic Medicine. Forensic Medicine I “The Legal Foundation of American Health Care” will include discussions of major court decisions as well as the laws that shape the practice of medicine in the areas of: professionalization, structure of hospital-based and doctor-based delivery systems, concepts of health insurance and more. Forensic Medicine II “Evolution of American Health Ethics” will focus on the evolution of the legal directives guiding ethical behavior as societies become more complex. Topics in Forensic II will include the rationale and goals of criminal law, civil remedies, and political systems. Forensic III “Medical Transgressions” presents the application of the principles in the Foundation and Evolution segments in dealing with deviations from the standards of care. Each of the three modules of Forensic Medicine may be taken separately and independently of the others, and without required prerequisites. Modules offered are announced at the time of registration. Course may be repeated. Recommended: Familiarity with the history of western civilization - such as is discussed in survey courses in western history is advisable.
  
  • MDHM 820 - Studies in Ethics

    3 credits
    Topics include: Putting the Humanities to Work for the Clinician Course may be repeated.
  
  • MDHM 825 - Studies in Ethics of Human Subject Research and Protection

    3 credits
    14
  
  • MDHM 830 - Studies in Anthropology and Public Health

    3 credits
    Boards of Trustees have major responsibilities to provide effective leadership for nonprofit healthcare organizations. They must serve all stakeholders affiliated with the institution(s), both internal and external. When the organization does well, they are commended. Conversely, when problems arise, trustees are held accountable. Clearly, a variety of difficult and complex problems exists in todays healthcare environment. Consequently, the responsibility of nonprofit hospital trustees requires planning for and addressing the challenges including contentious ethical issues. Conflicts of interest, executive compensation, medical errors, quality of patient care, and allocation of resources are some of the dilemmas that will be considered and debated. Additionally, the students, as trustees will experience significant power and responsibility, commencing with board orientation and culminating as members of a mock board analyzing and debating issues. The expertise of guest speakers from the industry will complement the readings and class discussionsresponsibility 14
  
  • MDHM 840 - Studies in Social Medicine

    3 credits
    Palliative Care I and II 14
  
  • MDHM 850 - Studies in the History of Medicine and Health

    3 credits
    Topics vary and are announced at the time of registration.
  
  • MDHM 851 - Introduction to the History and Historigraphy of Disability

    3 credits
    An exploration of ideas about disability, humanity and human difference in Europe and the United States. After a brief survey of disability from ancient times to the Enlightenment in the Old World, we will examine the colonial period in America, when disabled persons faced a mixture of suspicion and acceptance in small and isolated communities, followed by a discussion attitudes and practices in the nineteenth century, when disabled persons confronted isolation and institutionalization arising in part from industrialization, and continue with the early twentieth-century nightmares of eugenic hysteria and sterilization, which grew in part out of distortions of Enlightenment ideas of statistical norms and progress. We will conclude with a brief introduction to the disability rights movement of the last generation.
  
  • MDHM 852 - Topics in the Study of Disability

    3 credits
    Courses will explore key issues in the medical, social, legal, political and psychological aspects of disability. Topics will include the history and historiography of disability.
  
  • MDHM 860 - Studies in Art and Medicine

    3 credits
    Topics include: Images of illness and health in visual art. 14
  
  • MDHM 870 - Studies in Addiction

    3 credits
    This course covers varying issues related to the study of addiction, including such subjects as neurobiology and how drugs of abuse change the brain; exploring the history of addiction studies; and examining the impact of addiction on various populations. Topics include Addiction and Gender; Addiction and Human Behavior; and The Science of Addiction. Course may be repeated. 14
  
  • MDHM 880 - Studies in Gender

    3 credits
    Topics include Gender and Science, and are announced at the time of registration. Course may be repeated.
  
  • MDHM 890 - Special Topics in Medical Humanities

    3 credits
    14
  
  • MDHM 900 - Clinical Practicum

    3 credits
    Times to be arranged in consultation with the director. Supervised schedule of clinical instruction involving the Bioethics Committee, clinic and emergency room observation, Ethics Conference, grand rounds, Humanities Conference, ICU/CCU rounds, Morbidity and Mortality Conference, Narrative Conference, nursing home visitation, and teaching rounds. Submission of a written journal required. The practicum can be geared towards student interests, and takes into account prior experience (if applicable). Prerequisite: MDHM 801  and MDHM 802 .
  
  • MDHM 900A - Clinical Practicum: Overlook Hospital

    3 credits
    Times to be arranged in consultation with the director. Supervised schedule of clinical instruction involving the Bioethics Committee, clinic and emergency room observation, Ethics Conference, grand rounds, Humanities Conference, ICU/CCU rounds, Morbidity and Mortality Conference, Narrative Conference, Palliative Care, nursing home visitation, and teaching rounds. Submission of a written journal required. The practicum can be geared towards student interests, and takes into account prior experience (if applicable). Prerequisite: MDHM 801  AND MDHM 802 
  
  • MDHM 900B - Clinical Practicum: St. Barnabas Hospital

    3 credits
    Times to be arranged in consultation with the director. Supervised schedule of clinical instruction involving the Bioethics Committee, clinic and emergency room observation, Ethics Conference, grand rounds, Humanities Conference, ICU/CCU rounds, Morbidity and Mortality Conference, Narrative Conference, nursing home visitation, and teaching rounds. Submission of a written journal required. The practicum can be geared towards student interests, and takes into account prior experience (if applicable). Prerequisite: MDHM 801  AND MDHM 802 
  
  • MDHM 901 - Tutorial

    3 credits
    Members of the Medical Humanities Faculty. Available in autumn and spring terms annually. Open only to D.M.H. candidates interested in doing a tutorial ith Drew-based faculty. Any doctoral student interested in registering for a tutorial must file a petition; forms are available in the Dean’s Office. Arraignments must be made with the tutorial director and Program Director prior to filing petition. A student may only register for MEDHM+901 or MDHM 903  twice. Course may be repeated.
  
  • MDHM 903 - Clinical Tutorial

    3 credits
    Members of the Clinical Faculty. Available in autumn and spring terms annually. Open only to D.M.H. candidates interested in doing a tutorial on site at Raritan Bay Medical Center. Any doctoral student interested in registering for a tutorial must file a petition; forms are available in Dean’s Office. Arrangements must be made with the tutorial director and Program Director prior to filing petition. A student may only register for MDHM 901  OR MEDHM+903 twice. Course may be repeated. Signature of instructor required for registration.
  
  • MDHM 904 - Advanced Medical Humanities: Overlook / Atlantic HealthCare

    15 credits
    This course is the three-year humanities program offered as part of the residency requirements at Overlook and Morristown Memorial Hospitals for residents in Internal Medicine, and for other healthcare professionals at the two hospitals. Taught on site at the hospitals. Open only to residents in the Internal Medicine Residency Program and other healthcare professionals employed by Atlantic Healthcare.
  
  • MDHM 905 - Writing Practicum

    3 credits
    Corequisite: ARLET+905
  
  • MDHM 906 - Advanced Medical Humanities: Saint Barnabas Hospital

    15 credits
    This course is the three-year humanities program offered as part of the residency requirements at St. Barnabas Hospital for residents in Internal Medicine, and for other healthcare professionals at the hospitals. Taught on site at the hospital. Open only to residents in the Internal Medicine Residency Program and other healthcare professionals employed by St. Barnabas.
  
  • MDHM 906 - Research Design and Methodology

    3 credits
    14
  
  • MDHM 907 - Adv.Med.Hum.Morristown

    15 credits
    This course is the three-year humanities program offered as part of the residency requirements at Morristown Memorial Hospital for residents in Internal Medicine, and for other healthcare professionals at the two hospitals. Taught on site at the hospitals. Open only to residents in the Internal Medicine Residency Program and other healthcare professionals employed by Atlantic Healthcare. 
  
  • MDHM 908 - Doctoral Internship/Practicum

    3 credits
    In this course Drew students will work with faculty and medical professionals on projects designed to bring the Medical Humanities to practitioners in the field. Projects might include programs like Drew students participating as a team with faculty advisors to develop, using ACCME guildlines, a one-hour CME accreditied Presentation on Medical Humanities for presentation to 40 Primary Care Physicians and staff in their offices. Prerequisite: Completion of 18 credits in the Medical Humanities Program, including MDHM 801 - Biomedical Ethics  and MDHM 802 - Medical Narrative . Completion of MDHM 900 - Clinical Practicum  is preferred but not required.
  
  • MDHM 990 - Master’s Thesis Preparation

    3 credits
    Times to be arranged in consultation with the director. Supervised clinical study leading to preparation of the master’s thesis. The directed study is geared towards student interests and builds upon the previous clinical practicum experience. This course is open only to master’s degree candidates preparing to begin their thesis research. Prerequisite: (MDHM 900  or MDHM 900B )
  
  • MDHM 999 - Dissertation

    9 credits