LAUSR

In recent years, the medical humanities have been increasingly incorporated into medical school and residency curricula. However, medical humanities interventions have been criticized for being amorphous in their objectives and outcomes. We argue that, though limited, emerging evidence on the neurobehavioral construct of empathy and the effects of humanities-based interventions on such a construct might provide a path forward in terms of operationalizing medical humanities education. To do so, we examine existing evidence suggesting medical humanities education may increase medical trainee empathy and then contextualize this evidence in a discussion of the neurobehavioral basis of the relationship between empathy and the humanities.