Hektoen International

A Journal of Medical Humanities

Tag: developing empathy

  • “You will be alright”

    Swetha KannanAjman, United Arab Emirates “Will my daughter be alright?” asked the anxious mother, trying to hold back her tears. A young girl in her early twenties, so petite and frail that her body seemed to be like a sole pearl in a large sea. Her worrisome eyes met mine, screaming the same question—“Will I…

  • Wounded healer

    Brandon MuncanStony Brook, New York Since Plato, the notion of a sufferer helping the suffering has been proposed as one of the more skillful ways of helping a patient through an illness.1 Although this concept has been discussed since the time of Athenian philosophy, the term “wounded healer” itself was only coined in 1951 by…

  • Gently, Doctor, tell me what you see

    Florence GeloPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania, United States In order to emphasize the role of the arts when teaching the humanities in medicine, I have often taken medical students, residents, and doctors to art museums to develop the art of looking. During one such program for medicine residents at the Reading Public Museum, we looked at a work…

  • Book review: Creative Arts in Humane Medicine

    Mary Ann McDermottChicago, Illinois, United States McLean’s new book is for all those interested in healthcare and the arts. The book compiles programming descriptions, “how to” instructions, small research studies, personal memoirs, and short essays by medicine, nursing, and dentistry professionals as well as by patients, social service professionals, artists, students, and others! The book…