English course requirement in pre-med

WayOutWestMom
Wed, 06 Nov 2013 19:55:49 +0000

What’s the goal of the English course requirement?



[The study of literature in medical education. [Acad Med. 1995] - PubMed - NCBI](The study of literature in medical education - PubMed)



The study of literature encourages the development of otherwise hard-to-teach clinical competencies. It provides access to the values and experiences of physicians, patients, and families; it calls for the exercise of skill in observation and interpretation, develops clinical imagination, and, especially through writing, preserves fluency in ordinary language and promotes clarity of observation, expression, and self-knowledge.



[Reading Literary Fiction Improves Theory of Mind](http://www.sciencemag.org/content/342/6156/377) from Science



Theory of Mind is the human capacity to comprehend that other people hold beliefs and desires and that these may differ from one’s own beliefs and desires. The currently predominant view is that literary fiction—often described as narratives that focus on in-depth portrayals of subjects’ inner feelings and thoughts—can be linked to theory of mind processes, especially those that are involved in the understanding or simulation of the affective characteristics of the subjects.



There are tons more if you want additional citations.