Literature and Medicine
Humanities at the Heart of Healthcare

About Literature and Medicine

The New Hampshire Humanities Council has taken our promise to help create a healing environment to heart through Literature and Medicine, our hospital-based reading and discussion series. The project has ambitious goals: to build collegiality and team cohesion, to increase empathy and communication skills, to investigate tradition-bound roles that hinder best practices, and to refresh the healthcare environment.

• Download a Power Point slide show on the Literature and Medicine program.
  
• Literature and Medicine was the topic of an edition of NHPR's The Front Porch featuring NH Humanities Council Program Director Kathy Smith, Literature and Medicine Program Facilitator Rev. David Jones, and Dr. Joel Berman of Concord Hospital. Listen...
  
• Listen to podcasts of talks presented at the national Literature and Medicine conference, Caring for the Caregiver, held last November in Manchester and
  organized by the Maine Humanities Council.
  
• Click here to access an annotated bibliography of Literature and Medicine readings.

With the help of a grant from the Endowment for Health, support from the National Endowment for the Humanities, and with additional funding from our new program partner, the New Hampshire Medical Society, the Humanities Council has sponsored programs at healthcare facilities across the state including New Hampshire Hospital, Littleton Hospital, Concord Hospital, Parkland Medical Center, St. Joseph's Hospital, Southern New Hampshire Medical Center, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, and Lakes Region General Hospital.

Linking professional development to non-clinical knowledge is not a new idea, but using great works of literature as a filter through which medical personnel can approach difficult subjects safely and profoundly is unique.

Hospital staffs meet regularly for conversation, to refresh themselves with fun and intriguing discussion of literature, and to grapple with questions about the human condition. A specially trained humanities scholar serves as the facilitator for all discussions and anyone is welcome to participate - doctors, nurses, pastoral counselors, ethics committee members, volunteers, administrators, and support staff.

Program evaluations have indicated that a stronger connection between the world of medicine and the world of lived experience leads to deeper competency in understanding cultural diversity; it breaks down entrenched hierarchies and cliques; and helps transform the healthcare environment into an arts and humanities-friendly space. Ultimately, the discussions promote a healing environment – a goal we can all take to heart.

For more information on Literature and Medicine programs, please contact Kathy Smith
at 603-224-4071 x15.