HUMANIZING MEDICINE - A SPECIAL STUDY MODULE

As medical schools begin to implement their new curricula under the gu idance of Tomorrow's Doctors, the authors wish to raise some discussio n on the form and content of the special study module (SSM) component. In order to do this they put forward in this paper proposals for an S SM in Medicine and Literature. This course has been designed jointly a nd will be run concurrently in three Scottish medical schools: Glasgow , Aberdeen and Dundee. Arguments for the course's acceptability to fac ulties of medicine and to students are discussed and its inclusion in the curriculum in terms of its educational impact, skills training, ef fect on personal development and broadening of the student's perspecti ve are justified. The course structure, content and assessment procedu res are described and a reading list proposed. The General Medical Cou ncil points out that SSMs should be seen as opportunities for innovati on and this course demands a different educational approach from the s tandard objectives-led approach of most medical education. A process-l ed model is more appropriate as it stresses the way that students deve lop while taking the course rather than the end point reached at its f inish.