Dr. Andrew Wilner, Associate Professor of Neurology, has been named the new course director of Heartstrings: Humanism and Reflection in Medicine.
Heartstrings is a face to face elective receiving 3 credit hours. In this course, students will reflect – the conscious weighing and integrating of views from different perspectives – on their experiences in medicine with an emphasis on humanism in medicine – patient-centered care through open communication, mutual respect, and emotional connection between physicians and their patients. Students will meet each day for 2 hours of evidence-based reflection exercises and will continue to work on the reflection after the small group. Some activities will include reflective writing and discussion from posed questions; literature searches and readings; discussions; and a presentation of created works on the last Friday of the two-weeks or four-weeks. Through these exercises, students will improve patient care by enhancing the doctor-patient relationship, improve patient-centered care, revive a sense of compassion and humanism, recognize disparities in health, view pain culturally, increase critical thinking skills, have the opportunity to self-reflect, build communication skills, improve professionalism, and recognize characteristics of effective medical teams.
Dr. Wilner is the recipient of the 2001 American Academy of Neurology Award for Creative Expression of Human Values in Neurology.