Throughout
the course, we have explored the human experience of receiving a
diagnosis, facing illness, tolerating suffering, and approaching death,
while we have also considered why studying the humanities gives us, as
friends, family, and, most important, caregivers, the ability to develop
compassion and empathy to offer others. While it is generally agreed
that studying the humanities does provide us the skill of empathy, it is
not always so easy to articulate why this is true. In your final paper,
you will write an analytical essay and attempt to do so.
This essay topic asks you to answer why it is important for health
care providers to study the humanities. As you do so, consider these
questions:
What does studying the humanities give us that mere scientific study
and exploration cannot? What does contemplating art and considering the
beauty of the human experience, even a painful one, bring to the
healthcare provider’s landscape of understanding that simple anatomy or
biology cannot?
Before setting out to write your essay, look back on your experience
reflecting on various poems, paintings, and other media. Think about
what you were able to experience vicariously through the words,
expression, and visualization of the artists. Consider what new
knowledge, understanding, sensitivity, or sensation you were able to
encounter that you would not have experienced otherwise.
As you answer the essay questions:
include your observations and reflections from your favorite
discussion posts and the ideas and discoveries the works of art from the
modules inspired in you
consider the words of Martignoni, et al. and incorporate their concepts where appropriate
incorporate your own thoughts and interpretations that may not have
been specifically articulated in your reading and other materials.
Be sure to include at least 3 references to the course materials in your essay.
I am attaching my freewrite that I submitted prior
