Medical Humanities in the education of the future nurse practitioner: a qualitative study

Abstract

Medical Humanities (MH) are the expression of a change in the mission and image of medicine itself through the mobi-lization and improvement of many and different knowledge. This al-lows learning from experience, the activation of the student, the future professional, an intense reflective process, which allows access to the personal knowledge of each professional, producing opportunities for conscious reflection. Living through the cinema situations of illness and life of the patient, the care giver or other health professionals, helps students to experience emotions, feelings and moods in advance; all that leads to increasing both critical thinking and learning from ex-perience. A HD laboratory has been activated at the Nursing Study Course of the University of Parma, Piacenza training center, using cinema as a training tool. Four meetings were held during which films were screened, with the aim of making students reflect on various is-sues. Individual considerations and group discussions were followed by a didactic tutor and a psychologist. The objectives of the qualita-tive study carried out were: to evaluate the degree of satisfaction, de-gree of satisfaction and the perception of usefulness on a personal and professional level by the participants in the project. The data was col-lected through a focus group organized online. The results were clas-sified into units of meaning that revealed a stimulating, emotionally profound experience, a possibility for personal and professional growth. As can be seen from the letter, medical humanities in training can effectively support students in learning from experience and in building a conscious reflexivity.