Utilización de relatos literarios como actividad formativa para la enseñanza de la medicina en la Universidad de Oviedo

Abstract

Introduction. Reading and analysis of narrative texts may contribute to the acquisition of humanistic skills required for medical students. This article presents an activity performed to this aim. Subjects and methods. The activity has been performed over fi ve academic years, in the form of two seminars (four hours) as a part of an obligatory subject in the fi rst year of the Medicine degree of the University of Oviedo. Students (150-155 per year) perform this activity in subgroups of four-fi ve. At the fi rst seminar, the teacher comments two poems in order to initiate the students in the identifi cation of medical terms. During the second of the seminars, every group presented an analysis of a short story assigned by the teacher. Contents, structure and oral presentations were evaluated. Student satisfaction was measured in a survey. Results. We used 79 stories whose 33 were commented in two-three academic courses. Students’ mean scores on this activity ranged from 3.59 ± 0.11 to 3.85 ± 0.05 out of 4 in the diff erent courses. Students expressed satisfaction with the activity and stressed (out of 5 points) that the humanistic formation (3.9), the description of diseases (4), the doctor-patient relationship (3.7), the social dimension (3.7) and the patient’s attitude towards disease (3.8) may be acquired through the analysis of literary texts. Conclusion. Reading and analysis of literary texts allow students to approach relevant aspects of the professional practice absent in the curriculum of the degree.