In this year’s course we had the usual medical history practice with our mock patients, charting practice, and case presentation and treatment planning with our MDs to help students brush up their skills in English for their overseas clinical rotations.

In addition, students were lucky to have the experience of practicing abstract critical thinking and English communication skills with Nanako Shirai, a Harvard Medical School student with a Masters in Narrative Medicine.

Including Arts and Humanities in USA medical school education has been done since the 1990s. It is thought to improve doctor-patient communication by broadening doctors’ viewpoints and increasing the empathy and listening skills. Student feedback was very positive.

What extra opportunity might we have in 2025?