Medical Humanities, C.M.H. / M.M.H. / D.M.H.
About the Program
Medical Humanities, in its most basic connotation, deals with the intersection of human experience, medical practice, and scientific technology. The field transcends the disciplinary boundaries of academe and engages all aspects of human culture-science, history, ethics, philosophy, literature, religion, art-in a discursive dialogue centered on what medicine means in relation to the individual and society.
The demand for professionals who understand and can convincingly synthesize the ethical, historical, and practical aspects of medicine as they relate to the implementation, control and dissemination of health care continues to grow. In our present society, where advances in science and technology often outpace our ability to understand and cope with new concepts and situations, the need for medical humanitarians is particularly acute.
The Medical Humanities program is conducted jointly by the Caspersen School of Graduate Studies at Drew University and The Raritan Bay Medical Center, an affiliate of Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital and UMD/Robert Wood Johnson Medical School.
The Core of Our Program: Medical Humanities at Drew
While many graduate and medical schools now offer a course in bioethics, the Caspersen School has chosen to go beyond a curriculum comprised solely of the “ethics of” types of courses. In addition to a required Biomedical Ethics course, all students enrolled in the Medical Humanities program must take a Medical Narrative and complete a Clinical Practicum at Raritan Bay Medical Center in Perth Amboy, New Jersey as part of the program requirements. This unique combination of experiences form the backbone of our program.
Biomedical Ethics allows students to explore the major medical care issues which face the discipline, including discussions of ethical and religious concerns involving abortion, death and dying, and human experimentation. In this course, students learn the language of ethics and how to break down and understand the ethical issues highlighted nightly on the evening news.
In Medical Narrative, students explore how to both “tell” and “read” the stories of illness, various narrative approaches to medical knowledge, focusing on the narrative of illness, ethics and clinical care. Students also explore the varieties of medical narrative, such as anecdote, medical history and case presentation.
The Clinical Practicum offers a hands-on experience which complements and expands classroom learning. During the course of the practicum, students attend 10 clinical sessions (supervised hospital conferences and rounds). The clinical sessions are individualized according to each student’s needs and interests. The sessions range from attending the hospital’s Bioethics Committee meeting, to a Humanities Conference, to ER observation, ICU rounds, or a Nursing Home visit. This is a seminal experience for Medical Humanities students. Often times, students use their experience in Clinical Practicum as the basis for their theses and dissertations.
The Medical Humanities Program 0ffers two Degrees and two Certificates:
• The Doctorate in Medical Humanities (D.MH)
• The Masters in Medical Humanities (M.MH)
• The Certificate in Medical Humanities (C.M.H.)
• The Certificate in Ethics of Human Subject Research and Protection
The Doctor of Medical Humanities (D.M.H.)
The Doctor of Medical Humanities (D.M.H.) requires the completion of twelve courses beyond the Master’s degree plus dissertation (45 credit hours) with a cumulative GPA of no less than 3.1 (on a 4.0 scale). Seven courses are required (Introduction to Medical Humanities and Humanism, Bioethics, Introduction to Narrative, Medical Anthropology, Joy of Scholarly Writing, Social Research, and Doctoral Internship). The remaining five courses are taken as seminar electives.
All D.M.H students must prepare and successfully defend a nine-credit (for a total degree requirement of 45 credits) doctoral dissertation of 150-220 pages.
The Masters of Medical Humanities (M.M.H.)
The Masters of Medical Humanities (M.M.H.) requires the completion of ten courses plus thesis (33 credit hours) with a cumulative GPA of no less than 3.0 (on a 4.0 scale). Five courses are required (Introduction to Medical Humanities and Humanism, Bioethics, Introduction to Narrative, Medical Anthropology, and Masters Practicum/Internship).The remaining five courses are taken as seminar electives. Applicants who hold the C.M.H. or its equivalent from an accredited institution may be granted up to five course units (15 credit hours) of advanced standing upon application to the master’s program.
All M.M.H students must prepare a three-credit thesis of 50-75 pages.
The Certificate in Medical Humanities (C.M.H.)
The Certificate in Medical Humanities (C.M.H.) requires the completion of five courses (15 credit hours) with a cumulative GPA of no less than 2.0 (on a 4.0 scale). Four of the courses (Introduction to Medical Humanities and Humanism, Bioethics, Introduction to Medical Narrative, Clinical Practicum) are mandatory. The remaining course may be taken as an elective.
The Certificate in the Ethics of Human Subject Research and Protection
The Certificate in the Ethics of Human Subject Research and Protection requires the completion of five courses (15 credit hours) with a cumulative GPA of no less than 3.0 (on a 4.0 scale). Foundations in Research Ethics, Research Ethics and Law, Ethical Conduct of Research and Research Oversight, Social, Cultural & Religious Issues in Research, International Research Ethics.
Program Requirements
Required Core Courses for both MMH, DMHand CMH
MDHM 001 Orientation P/F
MDHM 799 Introduction to Medical Humanities and Humanism
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.”
MDET 801 Bioethics
An examination of central matters of moral concern in medicine and the life sciences, including some of the following: end of life care, euthanasia, requirements of consent, allocations of resources, disclosure of genetic information, and manipulation of genetic material in germ cells. The selected issues are considered in the contexts of moral justification and moral decision-making, with attention to fundamental matters of ethical theory.
MDNR 802 Introduction to Narrative Medicine
The course will explore narrative and interpretive techniques that may enhance communication within the healthcare community as a whole. Narrative is everywhere in medicine: in patient stories, in the notes we write, in our formal presentations and in conversations with colleagues and families. Traditionally, healthcare education has provided little training in how best to create and interpret such narratives. This course will use medical fiction, essays, poetry, great literature, illness narratives, medical autobiographies and case write-ups to introduce students to Narrative Medicine. The course will include some lecture but largely be conducted as a seminar with writing workshops.
MDSM 830 Medical Anthropology
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.
Electives
MMH/DMH 5 electives
Capstone: MMH
MEDHM 902 Master’s Practicum/Internship
MEDHM 002 Thesis Workshop
MEDHM 990 Thesis
Capstone: DMH
MEDHM 905: Joy of Scholarly Writing
MEDHM 906: Research Design and Methodology*
MEDHM 907: Doctoral Internship/Practicum
MEDHM 999: Dissertation
*If required
Elective Concentration Tracks ( prerequisite completion of Core requirements)
MDNR Studies in Narrative Medicine
MDET Studies in Ethics
MHSM Studies in Social Medicine
MHHM Studies in the History of Medicine
MHFA Studies in Medicine and Fine Arts
MHAS Studies in Addictions
MHGS Studies in Gender
Requirements for The Certificate in the Ethics of Human Subject Research and Protection
Foundations in Research Ethics
Research Ethics and Law
Ethical Conduct of Research and Research Oversight
Social, Cultural & Religious Issues in Research
International Research Ethics
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