History of Medicine Elective
Today’s clinician faces daily challenges to her/his best medical judgment imposed by an increasingly corporate environment for health care, by the problems of a large population of the uninsured, the high costs of medical/surgical advances, by an intrusive campaign to market pharmaceuticals directly to patients, by the multiple cultures of the patient population, and by national initiatives to provide universal insurance coverage.
In the face of such forces, it is beneficial for the practicing physician to draw on a solid grounding of informed professional judgment. Through a better understanding of medical history, students can gain needed perspective on the social, professional, economic and moral climate in which they will be practicing.
The primary goal of this elective is to help students to acquire a deeper understanding of the historical context for the pressing issues of today’s health care system and their potential role in that system. Students from all four classes are eligible to enroll. Faculty may attend as guests to participate in discussion.
The course will be organized as a small-group seminar in which the instructors’ introductory comments each week will be followed by presentations by students and invited speakers, followed by open discussion.
Sponsoring Department
Office of Medical History and Archives, Lamar Soutter Library
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