Overview

Humanities in Health and Medicine, studied within the Bachelor of Biomedical Science at The University of Western Australia, approaches health, illness and care through culture, history, literature and ethics. It builds on scientific knowledge of the body by adding insight into how people and societies function. The major matters because effective healthcare depends on interpretive skill, ethical sensitivity and self-awareness as much as on clinical knowledge.

What You'll Learn

• Health humanities as a discipline, and how it illuminates the experiences of patients, health professionals and the communities around them

• Narrative medicine and its use in research, education and practice

• Person-centred health care and the ways humanities approaches can shape it

• Bioethics, together with health and medical law concerning birth, life and death

• Perspectives drawn from literature, visual art, history, psychology, anthropology and critical thinking

• Mental wellbeing and Aboriginal health and wellbeing

• Public and global health themes, including health and illness in populations and the prevention and control of disease

Learning Outcomes

By the end of the course, students will be able to interpret patient stories and other cultural texts to understand how illness is experienced, and to weigh clinical knowledge alongside patient values. They will apply ethical reasoning and legal awareness to healthcare questions, and reflect thoughtfully on their own values and attitudes. Students will communicate with empathy and insight across diverse patient populations, and bring humanities-based approaches to the promotion of health and the care of people. The major also provides a firm base for postgraduate study in health professions such as medicine, dentistry, podiatry, pharmacy, social work and public health.