Literature & Medicine: Humanities at the Heart of Health Care^®

Literature & Medicine is a scholar-led, nationally recognized, humanities-based program for health care professionals designed to heighten empathy with patient experiences, deepen understanding of the role of health care workers, and improve communication. The first year of the Council’s Literature & Medicine program came to a successful close in June of 2010. During the program, a diverse group of staff participants at the VA Health Care facility in Fresno met monthly for extended text-based discussions—facilitated by a CSU Fresno English faculty member and poet—about a range of topics related to the practice of medicine.

A second series at the Fresno VA, including many new and some returning members, begins in October of 2010. The Council already has plans to expand Literature & Medicine to two new veterans’ hospitals—including VA Northern California Health Care System (Sacramento)—for a discussion series to begin in 2011.

These sites will receive programmatic and technical support throughout the year from CCH as well from a national network of facilitators, hospital liaisons, and humanities council staff.

The Council’s involvement in Literature & Medicine is part of a national movement to improve health care through humanities-based methods. The program, developed by the Maine Humanities Council, now involves hundreds of providers, staff members, administrators and policy makers in health care facilities across the country. The NEH is supporting the current expansion of the program to VA hospitals.