Contrary to the opinion of some, a physician is not merely a
scientist. A physician is a scientist who communicates that information to his
or her patients, relates it to the life they live, and tries to help them put
it in context. While this a role well-known to pediatricians, primary care
docs, naturopathic doctors, and other healthcare providers who work in a
primary care environment, this is equally important for surgeons and other specialists.
The ability to communicate to a patient about their health is especially
important when that patient’s health is in acute distress.
Last year, the New York Times ran an article about a program run by Mount Sinai School of Medical, the Humanities and Medicine Program,
which accepts a small number of students every year who have not taken some of
the traditional pre-requisite classes (physics and organic chemistry) nor taken
the dreaded MCAT exam. Instead, students are encouraged to major in a humanities
subject of their choice, and so long as they maintain a high GPA, they
matriculate along with all of the other students. While I myself believe in the
value of physics and organic chemistry, I like the fact that this program
encourages study in the humanities. A well-rounded education creates a
well-rounded doctor, and with that, here’s my list of the three humanities
classes that every physician should take.
A Literature Class – The poet in me sometimes likes to say
that a physician must deeply feel and understand the human condition. While
this is perhaps more poetry than practice, it is absolutely true that a doctor
has to understand the character of the patient who comes to see him/her. It’s
important to be able to anticipate the emotional or mental needs of our
patients, so that we can communicate in ways that are appropriate to our
patients’ needs. Good literature, especially but not exclusively good modern
literature, explores human needs, motivations and behaviors in a profound way
that educates us about the people around us. In our culture, we rarely give
each other true insight into our inner lives, but books thrive on this. A
well-read doctor reads and learns, and then understands his patients better,
being able to both relate compassionately and cater individually.
A History, Anthropology or Sociology Class – In the same way
that a patient doesn’t start and end at an injured body part, a patient extends
beyond the individual person who presents in the exam room. A patient’s health
is determined by a whole host of factors in the world around them, including
their work, their home environment, their ethnicity, their economic status, and
their culture – in short, their place in the world around them. These factors
play important roles in an individual’s health by influencing factors such as
their diet and ability to access healthcare, and yet they are rarely discussed
in biology, chemistry or other pre-med science classes. A well-rounded
education, in which the student learns about the individual’s place in the
broader world helps that future physician to understand what factors may be
influencing a patient’s health, and to make recommendations that fit within
that patient’s real-life experience.
A Foreign Language – As I said earlier, a physician is not
merely a scientist, but a communicator. Learning a foreign language has
important philosophical and practical value for a physician. On the one hand, a
doctor should have a broad mind and flexible way of thinking, two attributes
that come with studying a foreign language and the culture that created it. On
the other hand, in a multicultural society such as the United States, it is
increasingly important that a physician be able to speak a second language in
order to serve his or her community. Certain languages thrive in certain parts
of the United States (such as French, German, Chinese, Vietnamese, and others),
but Spanish in particular is now becoming a clinically important language, with
at least 10% of American families primarily speaking Spanish at home. Speaking
a patient’s native language allows for better communication, not only by
allowing the patient to better describe their situation, but also by giving
them the confidence and comfort of knowing that they are being understood.
Being a physician is not merely being a scientist. Being a
physician is being a translator, an intermediary between the concepts of
science and the human experience. In order to fulfill that role successfully, a
physician has to have a strong grasp of the world beyond the sciences, and so
these courses must be a part of his or her education. A physician needs to
understand his or her patients’ inner life and character, the social forces
that affect them, and needs to be able to communicate to them in a language they
understand. As I said earlier, a well-rounded education creates a well-rounded
physician, and a better servant of his or her community.
