This October, the Cambridge University Medical Humanities Society (CUMHS) and the Association of Medical Humanities (AMH) joined together to welcome their members for an enriching conversation on the changing identity of medicine, devised by medical students. The basis of this dialogue between medical experts, humanist researchers and other specialists was very clear: medicine needs to be approached from more human, artistic and collaborative perspectives to ensure the wellbeing of both medical professionals and of patients.
The day started off with keynote speaker Professor Roger Kneebone, who led the audience through his own experience as a surgeon and then GP. Kneebone brilliantly expressed the interdisciplinary relevance of the diagnostic process by considering factors that affect patients and are usually disregarded. He used the example of touch and how diagnosis usually requires invading someone’s personal space in a vulnerable situation. His work with artists and experts from different fields – included new insights a dialogue with a puppeteer– to help rethinking body rituals and the use of hands in medical practice. The audience was introduced to the idea that medicine is enriched by collaboration and deeper awareness of wider understandings that lie beyond the body of the patient.
Various panels followed the same premise by bringing into focus how emotional, financial and sociocultural elements impact health. N. Balchandra pointed out the importance of socioeconomic status in healthcare, advocating a medical training that considers the emotional, physical and financial needs of homeless people, something largely missing from the medical curriculum. Similarly X. Richards discussed ethical concerns in the case of Henrietta Lacks, calling attention to how current medical research is still grounded on racial and sexist inequalities that reduced black women to test subjects. A. Fox-Wiltshire followed Richards’ panel, questioning the role of UNECO and UNESCO over the last 80 years, and closing the presentations by encouraging the need for medical ethical entities awareness of culturally shaped science. Between these panels, we also enjoyed I. Ahmad Ayood Syed’s paper on how poetry can potentially aid parents of children with cancer navigate their difficult experiences and find a supportive community through social media.
After a brilliant engagement session, the second set of panels was as thought-provoking as the first. T. Fairfax tackled the relevance of the written word and proper reflection within medical practise and its effect on diagnosis, particularly today. AI. Fairfax advocated for a reflective process adapted to patients and doctors’ needs that ensures human dialogue and understanding. Following this, A. Bosanquet profoundly moved the audience with the short film Women in Stirrups: The Dark Side of Midwifery, showing the difficult reality of pregnant people and midwives within medical practice and the need to advocate for both pregnant individuals and midwives’ rights. This connected perfectly with E. Whitehouse’s focus on mistreatment in childbirth. Stating how over 54% of pregnant individuals suffer violations of their rights during childbirth, she called out the importance of referring to obstetric violence in official documents to avoid the systematic erasure of these painful realities. The papers presented by V. Lucas and J. Tomlison returned to Kneebone’s idea of collaboration between medicine and the arts in order to approach the processes of healing, dealing with terminal and chronic illness and how artistic creation can support patients to understand their new realities. P. de Zuleta undertook the pressing issue of AI in medical practise, warning about some of the ethical issues behind the use of AI in consultations and the fear of losing compassion and communication in medical practise, while acknowledging some of its positive medical research uses. Concluding the panels, J. Foell brought a hint of humour about navigating uncertainty as patients and doctors and how a “good enough doctor” is able to navigate such unknown spaces with their patients and find the way together.
After these compelling presentations, the entire audience was divided into groups for an imaginative activity in which we discussed different, hypothetical realities of healthcare and its positive and negative elements. This gave room for an engaging, lighthearted dialogue between all participants that proved to be both fruitful and fun. Following this, we enjoyed one last coffee break and the poster exhibition, leaving attendees with a warm impression of a well curated conference and the feeling that a bridge between the humanities, healthcare and a more human medicine is more than possible but is indeed a valuable necessity.
Alba de Juan y López
Ph.D. researcher on Irish Studies and Medical Humanities supervised by Dr. Luz Mar González Arias at the University of Orviedo, member of the HEAL research group and ILD Visiting Fellow at the University of Greenwich working with Dr. Jennifer Patterson.