Humanities and rheumatology: The time is now (again)
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This current issue of Healio Rheumatology features a roundtable on “‘The Art of Medicine’: Physicians’ Artistic Pursuits Strengthen Empathy, Sharpen Skills,” with contributions from Ronan Kavanagh, MD; Iris Y. Navarro-Millan, MD; James Louie, MD; Ronald F. van Vollenhoven, MD, PhD; and myself. The topic is not new — and indeed it is old — but in my mind it is more relevant today than any other time in modern medicine.
I am aware that defending humanities in medicine is no new endeavor. In fact, a little over a century ago the great Sir William Osler, in the final year of his life, addressed the Classical Association at Oxford where he aptly noted that humanists often lacked enough science while the field of science sadly lacked the humanities. He stated that this “unhappy divorce” should never have occurred and went on to extol the need for humanities in medicine as a healing art.
These sentiments have been repeatedly echoed throughout the past century and it is worth hitting the pause button to ask ourselves why the echoes of this question will and should continue.
To underscore the need for more humanism in medicine, one need not look far to see the medical profession suffering from numerous threats, including increasing burnout, rampant depression, early exit from the field and dwindling empathy. I am not going to pretend to have a simple formula to solve such problems, but it seems to make common sense that if we can center our humanity in our craft, we will be on our way to addressing these issues.
It begins by affirming that we value the science that has transformed the care of so many of our patients, while at the same time acknowledging that it is caring that we all desperately want when we or our loved ones become ill.
Please don’t get me wrong, as I aspire to the times ahead, with its promise of greater precision medicine in rheumatology scientifically enhancing diagnoses and treatment selection, as well as improving outcomes. However, I can see — from the twin vantage points of my practice and my own interactions with the field of medicine from the other side of the bedrail — that medicine by necessity must be the most human of all professions. Yes, we can now cure even without being present with the patient, but we can only heal when we are truly and genuinely present.
To this end, what can humanities do for us really? Again, I do not believe there are any quick fixes but the strategies to enhance our humanistic tendencies, the ones that hopefully brought us to this illustrious profession in the first place, are those that put us in touch with our body, mind and spirit.
Being a healer in full, a state when our own needs are met, makes us more resilient with an increased capacity for empathy. Racing from home to office and back is tough, and leaves us little time for reflection.
Those in our profession with artistic avocations — like several of our panelists — describe such endeavors as a potent buffer to the white noise of a hectic life. For the rest of us who are not so talented or committed, we can still engage in the joys of the humanities, such as reading (especially fiction), taking in the public arts or cultivating other reflective practices, including interacting in quality discussions with colleagues over shared travails. All of these have demonstrated an ability to buffer us from burnout and make us capable of getting up and doing it again.
I loved being interviewed for this piece and hope you will enjoy it. I would also love to hear about your strategies to nurture yourself with the humanities. Please share your thoughts with me at calabrl@ccf.org or at rheumatology@healio.com.
- For more information:
- Leonard H. Calabrese, DO, is the Chief Medical Editor, Healio Rheumatology, and Professor of Medicine, Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University, and RJ Fasenmyer Chair of Clinical Immunology at the Cleveland Clinic.
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