Project

The Project in Medical Humanities (PMH) aims to promote this emerging interdisciplinary field by using the knowledge and methods of the arts and humanities in the general area of health sciences and in close collaboration with health care professionals. In this way, the PMH seeks to improve the quality of health care by promoting the humanistic training of health professionals and students in health care (and other areas), and by valuing and honouring the patients’ voice and perspective.

The PMH is an expansion of the FCT funded project “Narrative & Medicine: (Con)texts and Practices Across Disciplines” (2013-15), a pioneering project launched in 2009 that introduced the field of Narrative Medicine in Portugal. Relying on the expertise of a multidisciplinary team, with researchers and consultants from areas such as Literature, Medicine, Nursing, Visual and Film Studies, Philosophy, Ethics, Psychology, Pharmacy, Epidemiology, Sociology and Physiotherapy, this project involves several national and international partners. The PMH intends to consolidate, develop, and continue the work previously carried out by the Narrative & Medicine Project and by the currently funded project SHARE - Health and Humanities Acting Together (ref. PTDC/LLT-OUT/29231/2017), enhncing its three main areas: academic research, education and training, and praxis/field work.

One of its key areas is advanced education and training, based on initiatives such as the post-graduation unit and Free Course on Narrative Medicine (offered since 2012), the forthcoming Doctoral Program in Medical Humanities and the Biennial Summer School in Narrative Medicine, among others.

Another crucial aspect of the PMH is the Portuguese Network of Medical Humanities (PNMH), a platform that gathers universities, research centers, and health-related institutions as partners whose aim is to promote, discuss, reflect, and act upon the field of Medical Humanities.