Medicine and the Arts: Humanising Healthcare

Online Course

University of Cape Town

Future Learn

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Medicine and the Arts: Humanising Healthcare

What is the course about?
Prerequisites & Facts
Cost, Certificate & Degree
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What is the course about?

Medicine and the Arts: Humanising Healthcare

The course Medicine and the Arts: Humanising Healthcare is an online class provided by University of Cape Town through Future Learn. It may be possible to receive a verified certification or use the course to prepare for a degree.

Explore the field of medical humanities – the intersection of the arts, humanities and healthcare – with this free online course.

Course description

6 weeks

This free online course will explore the intersection of medicine, medical anthropology and the creative arts. Through each of its six weeks, we’ll visit a new aspect of human life and consider it from the perspectives of people working in health sciences, social sciences and the arts. Explore the emerging field of medical humanities The course will introduce you to the emerging field of medical humanities and the concept of whole person care, via these six themes: The Heart of the Matter: A Matter of the Heart, Children’s Voices and Healing, Mind, Art and Play, Reproduction and Innovation, At the Edge: Madness and Medicine, Death and the Corpse. Together, we’ll question our propensity to separate the body from the mind in healthcare, consider what defines humanity, and share points of connection and difference between art and medicine. Learn with specialists from diverse fields Contributors to the course will include a psychologist, psychiatrist, heart surgeon, pathologist, oncologist, sociologist, poet and visual artist. They will pose critical questions about how we deal with health, healing and being human. Each has been filmed on location in Cape Town, including at the Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital, the Heart of Cape Town Museum, and the Pathology Learning Centre. The course will encourage you to discuss your ideas with learners all over the world, and reflect on the ways in which bodies, health, social life, culture and the imagination intersect in your local setting. Together, we’ll ask: How is it that academic disciplines have become so rigid in their focus that they sometimes struggle to talk meaningfully to general audiences and other specialists? And what potential can we unlock by combining different fields of expertise and the silos of knowledge that otherwise separate them? By the end of the course, you’ll understand multiple, complex perspectives on health, illness and healing, and be able to create alternative responses to important health challenges.

The medical humanities and interdisciplinarity
Different understandings of the human heart
Children’s experience of illness and healing
Relationships between the mind, art and play
Creativity and innovation in healthcare
Representations of mental illness
Medical, social and cultural understandings of death

Identify interdisciplinary perspectives in health and humanities used in addressing complex healthcare challenges
Discuss how the arts and humanities contribute to improved healthcare practices
Understand the role of the arts in approaches to healthcare within six health-related topics
Contribute your local perspective and relate it to the perspective of others

This course is open to everyone. All that’s required is an interest in medicine, the arts or social sciences.

University of Cape Town
The University of Cape Town is one of the leading higher education and research institutions on the African continent and has a tradition of academic excellence that is respected worldwide.

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Prerequisites & Facts

Medicine and the Arts: Humanising Healthcare

Course Topic

Creative Arts & Media, Psychology & Mental Health

University, College, Institution

University of Cape Town

Course Skill Level

see course summary

Course Language

English

Place of class

Online, self-paced (see curriculum for more information)

Degree

Certificate

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Degree & Cost

Medicine and the Arts: Humanising Healthcare

To obtain a verified certificate from Future Learn / University of Cape Town you have to finish this course or the latest version of it, if there is a new edition. The class may be free of charge, but there could be some cost to receive a verified certificate or to access the learning materials. The specifics of the course may have been changed, please consult the provider to get the latest quotes and news.

University of Cape Town

Medicine and the Arts: Humanising Healthcare

provided by Future Learn

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