The Medical Humanities: A brief introduction

Abstract

The medical humanities is a broad area of study and practice encompassing all nontechnical or 'human' aspects of medicine. This article introduces a series in the medical humanities in Australian Family Physician. The medical humanities serve three main goals: the study of the human aspects of medicine from within traditional arts disciplines of history, philosophy, sociology and literature; the intersection of medicine and the creative arts; and the training of more insightful and compassionate doctors. This article briefly explores these three goals and discusses their value for the medical community.