Healer's Art (BP430)

“It is the deeper meaning of our work, our shared purpose and not our science, that will sustain us.” Rufswold and Remen, 2002

Healer’s Art is unlike any other course you’re likely to get in medical school.  In its unique design that centers on a personal and interactive environment between small groups of students and faculty, the course explores and reinforces the human dimensions of medicine.  In an increasingly demanding and hectic health care environment, where it may be easy to lose perspective amid the flurry of tasks we face each hour, Healer’s Art asks us to take a step away and to remember why we chose to by physicians in the first place.  It asks us difficult questions about ourselves.  It forces us to look inward, to address and heal ourselves before we can hope to heal others.  Through the series of regular meetings and reflections, Healer’s Art helps each of us find and remember the humanness and the meaning in medicine. 
 

Click here for Healer's Art Oaths from 2007.

Course Description & Syllabus:

The Healer's Art is an elective course designed to address the "hidden curriculum" in medical school by identifying, strengthening, and cultivating the human dimensions of the practice of medicine.  It was developed twelve years ago by Rachel Remen, M.D. at UCSF and has now been successfully replicated at other medical schools. This course adds a unique experience and approach to the professionalism curriculum.  Course number: BP430

Dates/Times for 2008:
All classes are scheduled for 6:30-9:30pm
February 5, 12, March 4, 11, 18- 2008
Attendance is mandatory to all sessions to receive course credit.

Goals:

• Identify, strengthen, cultivate the human dimension of the practice of medicine.

• Trust the power of listening and presence to heal others.

• Recognize that who you are is as important to your patients as what you know.

• Strengthen and clarify a personal commitment to medicine as a life's work.

• Develop greater comfort with death and death beliefs of patients.

What you will learn:

• To make an active commitment to strengthening and preserving your humanity.

• The power of listening and being listened to.

• To experience healing relationships with other students and faculty.

• How to offer group support to colleagues to preserve and develop personal humanity.

• Skills of grieving loss and sharing personal meaning as a protection against burnout.

• To expand ideas abut the physician's role in the area of death and recognize the power of death to clarify life's values.

• To recognize the experience of service and discover innate altruism and generosity.

How does it work? It consists of five 3-hour evening sessions spaced over the course of two months, each divided into large and small group experiences. Session topics are:

1. Discovering your Self in medicine.

2. Learning to grieve: Care beyond Cure I

3. Learning to grieve: Care beyond Cure: II

4. Reclaiming Awe and Wonder: Finding Inspiration

5. Commitment to Hope

Frequently Asked Questions 

What exactly is Healer’s Art?
Healer’s Art is a course that explores issues of humanism in medicine: students and faculty will have a series of conversations about our personal commitment to medicine, grief and loss, acknowledging wonder in our daily lives, and taking care of our whole selves.

What is the course design like?
The course is divided into five separate three-hour sessions, each with a large and small group component.  As a whole, the course covers a spectrum of emotional aspects in medicine, and with every meeting, each participant is allowed to share and reflect upon his or her own personal experiences. 

Though each session is unique in its presentation, the main topics of the five evenings are:

1. Discovering your Self in medicine.

2. Learning to grieve: Care beyond Cure I

3. Learning to grieve: Care beyond Cure: II

4. Reclaiming Awe and Wonder: Finding Inspiration

5. Commitment to Hope

How often does it meet?
For 2008, Healer’s Art will meet on the evenings of February 5, 12, March 4, 11, 18 - 2008.  The course runs in the evenings between 6:30 and 9:30pm.  Because the heart of the course is reflection based, and because each individual plays an essential role within a larger dynamic of group sharing and exploration, attendance at each of the sessions is mandatory. We wait for all the participants before starting the sessions, so please be on time.

Can I take call on a Healer’s Art Day?
Call issues need to be worked out with the primary service you are on. As an elective, Healer’s Art may not be used as an excuse to get out of call responsibilities. We expect that both faculty and students will turn their pagers and cell phones off for the duration of the Healer’s Art evening.

Is there a lot of work involved?
The hard work in Healer’s Art comes from active participation.  In each of the sessions, the reflections require a general openness and a willingness to participate and share personal experiences. There is no textbook or assigned reading for the course; gift books and a reader are given out at the last session. Grades are administered on a Pass/Fail basis and are solely based on attendance. 

Does this course involve personal analysis or group therapy?
No. The underlying principle of Healer’s Art is that we are all equally human and no one is “broke” and needs fixing. This is not intended to be a therapy course: analysis and advice are not allowed. This course provides a place to listen to each other without judgment and explore issues together.

Who are the student participants?
The course is designed for first and second year students, but has been successful at all student and faculty levels. This year it will be offered to fourth and second year students, but we will not mix classes in our small group sessions. Also taking the course with us this year will be a group of chaplains.

Who are the faculty?
This course was founded at Loyola in 2005 by Ruby Roy, Aaron Michelfelder, Dana Brazdziunas, Eva Bading and Lisa Martin. This year we are privileged to be joined by Robert Miller, Cheyanne Casas, Charles Dumont, Mary Keen, Theresa Kristopaitis, Father Gino Donatelli, Youngran Chung, and Francis MacBee Orzulak.