Date of Publication
2023
Abstract
Background: While traditional medical education emphasizes acquiring knowledge and technical skill, there is increasing recognition of the role humanities play in improving medical practice, interprofessional development, and patient-provider relationships. This study analyzes the benefits, drawbacks, and barriers to implementing Vermont Humanities Council’s (VHC) narrative book club, Literature and Medicine (L&M), in clinical settings to determine post-pandemic feasibility and best practices for program expansion.
Methods: Two subject groups were interviewed: Vermont clinical institutions with and without narrative book clubs. Following interviews, the benefits, drawbacks, and barriers to implementation were coded to analyze differing perspectives from institutions with and without book clubs. These results were amalgamated into recommendations for VHC to guide its expansion of L&M.
Results: Hospitals currently running L&M reported numerous benefits, the foremost being interprofessional development and learning new perspectives. The hospitals reported a spread of professions represented in L&M. Hospitals not currently running L&M reported interprofessional development as the major perceived benefit. Additionally, these hospitals reported an average interest of 4/5 in developing a program with VHC. However, significant barriers exist; time and staffing issues were reported as areas of concern for hospitals considering implementation.
Conclusion: Interprofessional development and peer learning can be achieved through L&M. These results reflect the known positive outcomes cited in humanities-based medical programming. However, barriers to implementation must be addressed for successful implementation. Any novel L&M program must address the time commitments and constraints of an already overworked population.
Advisor(s)
Abigail Hielscher, PhD
Larner College of Medicine, University of Vermont
Ryan Newswanger
Vermont Humanities
Touissant St Negritude
Community Mentor
Subjects
Community, Educational and Community-Based Programs, Health Care, Health Communication, Health Policy, Health-Related Quality of Life & Well-Being, Social and Community Context, Vision
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 License
Recommended Citation
Christensen, Hayden; Greenblat, Molly; Nuyen, Michelle; Patel, Shrey D.; Pflaster, Kara M.; Rustad, John L.; Scholes, Julie; and Tran, Alex, "Literature and Medicine: Benefits of and Barriers to the Implementation of Book Clubs for Health Care Professionals" (2023). Public Health Projects, 2008-present. 349.
https://scholarworks.uvm.edu/comphp_gallery/349
