All posts by craigklugman

Craig Klugman is a bioethicist who teaches, lectures, writes, innovates and inspires

My blogs this week

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Delivering Bad News Via Robot: Is technology, protocol, or grief the real issue?
“Just because the use of the telemedicine robot is the new factor in this encounter, does not mean that the family’s dissatisfaction is due to the use of this technology. We have to examine whether the technology was used appropriately and more generally, whether the bad news was given well. It is easy to blame a machine for dehumanizing the patient experience but sometimes people or situations can do that on their own.”

BioethicsTV (March 5-9, 2019): #The Resident, #The Good Doctor, #New Amsterdam

Humanities Teaching in Medical Schools

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Klugman CM (2018). Medical Humanities Teaching in North American Allopathic and Osteopathic Medical Schools. Journal of Medical Humanities. DOI: 10.1007/s10912-017-9491-z

Although the AAMC requires annual reporting of medical humanities teaching, most literature is based on single-school case reports and studies using information reported on schools’ websites. This study sought to discover what medical humanities is offered in North American allopathic and osteopathic undergraduate medical schools. An 18-question, semistructured survey was distributed to all 146 (as of June 2016) member schools of the American Association of Medical Colleges and the American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine. The survey sought information on required and elective humanities content, hours of humanities instruction, types of disciplines, participation rates, and humanities administrative structure. The survey was completed by 134 schools (145 AAMC; 31 AACOM). 70.8% of schools offered required and 80.6% offered electives in humanities. Global health and writing were the most common disciplines. Schools required 43.9 mean (MD 45.4; DO 37.1) and 30 (MD 29; DO 37.5) median hours in humanities. In the first two years, most humanities are integrated into other course work; most electives are offered as stand-alone classes. 50.0% of schools report only 0-25% of students participating in humanities electives. Presence of a certificate, concentration or arts journal increased likelihood of humanities content but decreased mean hours. Schools with a medical humanities MA had a higher number of required humanities hours. Medical humanities content in undergraduate curriculum is lower than is indicated in the AAMC annual report. Schools with a formal structure have a greater humanities presence in the curriculum and are taken by more students.

Upcoming Talks

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  • Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas (Monday-Tuesday, March 18-19, 2019)
  • [poster] Graphic Bioethics. 8th International Health Humanities Meeting. Chicago, Illinois. March 28-30
  • Narrative Medicine. Grand Rounds. University of Illinois Chicago School of Medicine. April 23 (12-1pm)
  • Graphic Bioethics. Center for Bioethics & Humanities, Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine,  Chicago. May 3 (2:45pm)
  • Research Ethics, Western Oregon University (May 6)
  • Art Rounds Training, University of Nevada School of Medicine, Reno (June 20-21)
  • Smart Pills, University of Texas Southwestern, Dallas, October 8

Craig Klugman, Ph.D. is a professor of bioethics and health humanities at DePaul University where he co-directs the Bioethics & Society minor program. Dr. Klugman also serves on the ethics committee at Northwestern University Hospital. He is the author of over 450 articles, book chapters, OpEds, and blog posts on such topics as bioethics, digital medicine, professionalism, end-of-life issues, public health ethics, research ethics, education, health/medical humanities, ethics of execution, and health policy. He is the blog editor and frequent writer for bioethics.net as well as creator of the BioethicsTV column. Dr. Klugman is the editor of several books including Research Methods in the Health Humanities (Oxford 2019), Medical Ethics (Gale Cengage 2016), and Ethical Issues in Rural Health (Hopkins 2013; 2008). He is the executive producer of the award winning film Advance Directives and has developed programs for using art and improvisational theater to teach health students. He serves as chair of ethics for the Illinois Crisis Standards of Care Task Force and is co-founding chair of the Health Humanities Consortium. Dr. Klugman frequently gives talks to universities, medical and nursing groups, companies, and community organizations. He has been interviewed for The New York Times, AARP News, Nightline, Vice, and national radio. Besides numerous academic journals, his writing has appeared in Pacific Standard Magazine, Huffington Post, LifeMattersMedia, Chicago Tribune, Medium, Cato Unbound, The Hill, San Francisco Chronicle and the Houston Chronicle.