Medical Humanities Commons^™

Emotional Intelligence Documentary - What Remains: Medical Humanities Perspectives From Madrid And Toledo, Spain, Samantha N. Lara

Cultivating Emotional Intelligence through the Humanities in Spain

What Remains is a documentary inspired by a Medical/Health Humanities study abroad experience in Madrid and Toledo, Spain. Through museums, historic architecture, poetry, and everyday life, the film examines how human beings leave traces of themselves long after they are gone. Drawing on course themes including Plural Truths, Reason and its Discontents, The Renaissance Self, and Fragmented Modernity, the documentary explores how art and literature preserve experiences of suffering, identity, memory, and human connection. Works by Antonio Machado, Francisco de Quevedo, Francisco Goya, El Greco, and Diego Velázquez serve as lenses through which to examine the enduring nature of human …

Emotional Intelligence Documentary - Madrid: La Enseñanza Del Poder, Karla I. Jimenez-Valencia

Cultivating Emotional Intelligence through the Humanities in Spain

El documental Madrid: La Enseñanza del Poder es una reflexión sobre el poder, incluyendo el abuso de poder, la opresión, la desigualdad y el sufrimiento de las personas causado por quienes actúan con avaricia y buscan mantener su autoridad.

En el documental hablo del poder de la monarquía española y cómo el Palacio Real de Madrid representa un símbolo de esta inmensa autoridad. Igualmente, tocó el tema de cómo esta riqueza no está distribuida de manera equitativa y como se ve esta distribución en la sociedad actual.

También, discuto la dictadura de Francisco Franco y la Guerra Civil Española y …

Reading Burney’S Mastectomy Letter: Presentist Thinking And Personal Responses In The Classroom, Heather Meek

ABO: Interactive Journal for Women in the Arts, 1640–1830

Frances Burney’s mastectomy letter, in its graphic and detailed depiction of the operation she underwent without anesthetic in 1811, does not always lend itself immediately to standard, scholarly classroom discussion. It tends, rather, to incite unusually intimate responses, as well as conversations about medicine and health today. In my teaching of the letter in literature courses at Université de Montréal over the course of the past 13 years, I have found that students are inclined to seize upon the subject of breast cancer as especially contemporary in its relevance and to share their own anecdotal knowledge of the disease. I …

Diastole, Charlaine Chen

HCA Healthcare Journal of Medicine

Diastole is the space between heartbeats. It is in this space that the heart actively rests, refills. These periods of relaxation are what allow the next heartbeat to occur. A heart without diastole is in heart failure. In medical training, we are raised on the myth that constant effort equals devotion, that rest is a luxury. A sense of guilt riddles me when I take a sick day, or when I feel I am not doing enough, fast enough. This work is a meditation on the nature of rhythm, and the rhythm of nature. These quiet spaces are not signs …

Between Rounds And Resolve, Faizan Sheraz

HCA Healthcare Journal of Medicine

“Between Rounds and Resolve” is a narrative poem chronicling the introspective journey of an internist transitioning toward a subspecialty in gastroenterology. Through poetic reflection, the piece captures the emotional cadence of clinical rounds, the quiet resilience forged in patient care, and the evolving sense of purpose that guides a physician toward deeper specialization. This work explores themes of identity, transformation, and professional growth, offering a humanistic lens on the road less traveled within medicine. It aims to resonate with readers, navigating their own paths of change, reaffirming the value of reflection and resolve in shaping a meaningful career in health …

"In Hog Hollow", Kendall Thurman

Cumberland Medica

"In Hog Hollow" is a poem I wrote in the fall while walking through a trail of the same name. A few days before, I had cared for a patient in the ER who was on hospice for end-stage liver cancer. The smells and sights of fall evoked my emotions as I contemplated his death.

Forming Physicians For Others: The Identity Of The Jesuit Catholic Medical School, John Hardt, David G. De Marco Sj

Jesuit Higher Education: A Journal

Forming Physicians for Others: The Identity of the Jesuit Catholic Medical School

The Jesuit medical school accepts a widely-acknowledged telos: the preparation of the medical student to offer excellent patient care. It pursues this telos, however, through the distinctiveness of Ignatian formation, which finds expression in each domain of undergraduate medical education. This formative commitment, oriented toward and witnessing to an appreciation of the unconditional worth of the human being, may empower a subset of medical students—who are engaged by a life of faith and open to the transcendent invitation of their lives—to experience an even more fundamental transformation—one that …

The Pain Of Women And Femmes: A Multi-Session Class Activity On Generative Ai-Technology And Gender Norms, Bethany L. Johnson, Margaret M. Quinlan

Feminist Pedagogy

This unit helps students examine the societal implications of reproductive pain, focusing on healthcare settings and in post–Roe America. Through active listening, media analysis, and interactive research with ChatGPT, students examine how generative AI responds in a neutral tone; however, with additional data and correction, large language models (LLMs) produce more expansive and inclusive responses. Class activities include group discussions, research, and simulations. By using transcripts from the podcast “The Retrievals” and analyzing recent media, students evaluate how LLMs adjust their answers to identical questions, thereby calling into question their design, functionality, and benefits. The unit employs feminist pedagogy to …

Community - Volume 11

be Still

No abstract provided.

Asclepius, Lia M. Smerina

be Still

No abstract provided.

Namaste, Kem Chho, Jason Nguyen

be Still

No abstract provided.

In That Space, We Were Communis, Eliana Namen

be Still

In reflecting on my understanding of community, there were many moments I could have chosen to write about. Yet the memory of my grandmother’s death remains the one most deeply etched in me. When I began considering what community truly meant in my own life, I found myself returning to that room. In her illness and eventual passing, she drew together an extraordinary constellation of people: family, friends, neighbors, whose lives she had quietly shaped. Her life created ripples far beyond what any one person could see. In witnessing that gathering, I came to understand community not merely as shared …

The Geography Of Faces, Faith Abraham

be Still

The Geography of Faces takes its title from the idea that a face, seen across decades, becomes a kind of landscape—something you learn to read not at a glance but through accumulated return visits. For Dr. Vasquez, an older physician who has seen so much, her patients' faces are the territory she has spent a lifetime learning to navigate.

The patients are chosen to represent different dimensions of that longevity. They show affection built on years of small battles, continuity across a family, autonomy that is respected. Together, these patients make the case that primary care is less about problems …

Stronger Together: Healing Through Joy, Archana Banda, Nupur S. Kumar

be Still

Volunteering as Family Pals at Boggy Creek throughout medical school has reinforced the profound impact of communities united under a shared vision of uplifting one another. This organization cultivates a supportive camp environment for children with chronic medical conditions. One of the most meaningful aspects of these weekend adventures has been meeting children with conditions such as Type 1 Diabetes and VACTERL courageously navigating the challenges of their diagnoses while discovering new passions through activities including woodcraft, air hockey, boating, fishing, and archery.

Many times these children are excluded from normal camp experiences due to their special needs such as …

Circle Of Community, Nardia Aldridge

be Still

This photograph captures a moment of collective connection as members of a community gather in a circle holding hands. The circle represents unity, reflection, and mutual support. Through shared cultural expression and participation, community becomes more than a place. It becomes a lived experience of belonging, identity, and care for one another.

It’S Time. Maintaining Personal Relationships In Medical School, Rudayna S. Tabbara

be Still

No abstract provided.

Colorblocks, Marianne Koleng

be Still

The use of several colors to highlight the facial features in the portrait represents the various communities to which an individual belongs, including, but not limited to, their family, their school, religion, career, ethnicity, and more. Each color is used in many shapes within the face to evoke the shared importance of each community in creating identity, one is not superior to the other, and without each of them, we would not have the entire face.

The Making Of Man, Marianne Koleng

be Still

The Making of Man is an abstract ink drawing depicting an individual's face, but at closer look, it is the intricacies that compose it. This goes to show that behind every individual, there is a community holding them together, even if it is not immediately apparent.

Side By Side, Elena L. Richardson

be Still

This photograph captures what I came to understand as the true wealth of Mota Fofalia. In a place with few material resources, community was not just present - it was everything. These boys, arms slung around each other, smiling without hesitation, reflect a kind of belonging that doesn’t depend on circumstance. During my eight weeks there, I realized that while so much was limited, connection was abundant - and it was enough.

What She Carries, Elena L. Richardson

be Still

This image captures the quieter side of community—the unseen labor that sustains it. Though she walks alone, everything she carries reflects a life woven into others: provision, responsibility, continuity. In rural Gujarat, I came to understand that community is not only found in togetherness, but in the everyday acts that hold it up.