Applied Medical Humanities (MA)

Birkbeck's MA Applied Medical Humanities is designed to help medical practitioners explore and understand their complex, everyday clinical experiences with diverse patients and cultures. Medical humanities is a rich interdisciplinary field of study in which medicine and its practices are examined through the lenses of the humanities disciplines, including art, cultural and critical studies, film, history, law, literature and philosophy. This practice-based programme utilises the insights and skills of the humanities disciplines to support the development of the professional capabilities, values and behaviours defined by the GMC and NMC and core to clinical practice. Its focus on the integration of medicine and humanities will help students develop a deeper understanding of their clinical practice, locate ways of enhancing patient care and explore strategies for your own self-care. Students will acquire new skills in verbal and written communication, research and critical analysis that will expand your existing professional skill-set. To contextualise Western medicine and the cultural specificity of medicine in Britain, students will undertake a placement within another speciality or medical tradition at the end of their first year. The insights students gain in this placement will allow them to develop a reflexive understanding of their own speciality and the settings in which they deliver healthcare. This programme is relevant for practitioners across all stages of medical and healthcare careers: in medicine, from foundation years, through speciality training, to consultant level; in nursing, from early career through to specialist and consultant levels. Its intensive delivery makes it possible for full-time clinicians and healthcare professionals, from the UK and overseas, to combine study with clinical commitments.