Beyond Textbooks: Exploring Humanity in
Medicine
Medicine study course has been noted as one of
the most difficult course of study worldwide. It has also been viewed as one of
the most respectable profession and there has been a lot of craze among young
people to enter into this profession.
Though
from Hippocrates, the father of Modern
medicine to great physician like William Osler have time and again emphasized
on the humane aspects of medicine and the need for the medicos to understand
life as a whole to become a good physician, their teachings have often got
burrowed down in the heaps of technical humdrum of modern medicine. Alienation
of the medicos in training from the humane aspects of medicine have become more
and more prominent in the recent years with more and more sophistications in
the investigative aspects of medicine. A modern physician is often caught
between the mechanical technicalities and various investigative procedures and
happens to focus in the "disease" rather than the "person with the
disease". This deficiency of human touch in the modern physician has led
to instantiation from the patients and often led to unwelcome misunderstandings
and conflicts with their patients.
In our country
too, Medical professionals have been looked up to by the general population- In
one place we are rendered divine for the noble service of saving life and
sometimes we are shunned as insensitive and overtly mechanical. This has often
been reflected in the increasing incidents of complaints against health professionals,
their manhandling and vandalism in health facilities. There could be a lot of
reasons for these mishappenings but this lack of proper trainings of the
medicos in dealing with the humane aspects of health and understanding their
patients as a whole is one of the major part that we as medicos could improve.
This has been well recognized by prime medical universities across the globe
and could be reflected in their increasing attempts to incorporate humanities
in the medical curricula. As a pioneer medical institute in Nepal, B. P.
Koirala Institute of Health Sciences, Dharan has attempted to integrate some of
these aspects into its medical teachings but we still feel the deficit.
It is on this
background that we are organizing this symposium- " Beyond Textbooks:
Exploring Humanity in Medicine". We look forward to enlighten the
young medicos of BPKIHS on the various aspects of life, through their discourse
with various imminent personalities in different fields of life- arts,
literature, culture, glamour, social service, entrepreneurship, mass media,
politics etc. in Nepal. Bringing in imminent speakers, experts in their field,
to share their experience on pre-specified topics and to show us how their
field (and so the lives of many linked to it) can be correlated with medicine,
will in many forms enrich our endeavors in becoming well-rounded Medicos; one
who knows how to empathize with the patient, one who believes in teamwork and
one who can cure the disease beyond the apparent (the social aspects).
As we entered
the 21st
century it became apparent that there is more to a doctor-patient relationship
than just the examination and prescription of medicine. And often more is expected from us than is
humanly. Thus, Institutions across the globe have discovered the importance of
merging humanities in the teaching of medicine wherever possible. BPKIHS has
also kept up with the changing trends and has marked its whole education system
as community oriented. Community medicine is taught and field exposure is
provided from the 1st to the final year, surpassing any other subject in this
respect. It is in this spirit that the “Beyond
textbooks: Exploring humanity in medicine” symposium is directed.
A person can
excel much in academics and yet is seen to lag behind in the medical
profession. This clearly points out that there is more to medicine than just
the text. It is to unravel this mystery, to bring out the X-factor that most of
us miss, that this symposium has become necessary.
Objectives:
Ø
Orient the medicos to
fields other than medicine
Ø
See the world of the
patient from another perspective
Ø
Analyze how
humanities and medicine can be collaborated for better productivity and cure of
the patient beyond what is apparent
Ø
Contribute in
making well-rounded personalities from the BPKIHS medicos
Ø
To know the
end point of compassion. How to maintain composure in an ever demanding
profession
Ø
To know Fact
V/s reality: Is what we are taught is actually what is expected of us?
Ø
To share news,
facts regarding the existing health situation and its changing direction in
today’s world
Ø
To get
acquainted with the bitter truths of
professionalism and its consequences
Methodology:
The delegate
speakers will address the participants on afore given topics that highlight
their respective field of expertise and its relation with medicine. The
methodology will include:
Ø
Oral and PowerPoint
presentation
Ø
Question
answer session
Ø
Panel
discussion
A similar
program was organized back in 2010, and was immensely successful in its purpose
to merge the apparently polar fields of medicine and humanities.
This program
has been jointly organized by Parikrama Students’ Family and Junior Resident
Welfare Society, BPKIHS with support from the BPKIHS administrations.
Parikrama Students’ Family has been
bonding Medical students through a medium they are most deprived off;
Literature, arts & social activism. Founded 18 years back by a group of
eager 2nd
year undergraduates for a campus literary wall magazine, it has now matured to
be a major part of Student Activities in BPKIHS. Parikrama brings out the
Institute’s Yearbook, a bimonthly paper Harbinger, and runs a literary library
apart from other events aimed at the students.
Junior Resident Welfare Society, BPKIHS
is the only organization representing and uniting the junior residents in
BPKIHS, was established in 2011 to
promote rights of BPKIHS junior residents, contribute as an organization to the
betterment of BPKIHS and to promote excellence among the junior resident through
integration of curricular and extracurricular activities.
GENERAL INFORMATION
Tentative date of program: 3rd & 4th January
2014
Organizer: Parikrama Students' Family and Junior Resident Welfare Society
Venue: Auditorium Hall, BPKIHS, Dharan
Official language: English, Nepali
Target groups: Under graduate medical students,
post-graduate medical students, house officers, doctors, nurses, faculty and
entire medical fraternity
Accommodation: Accommodation will be provided by
organizer
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