Missoula hospital and university form Institute of Medicine and Humanities to bring literature, ethics into clinical care

Missoula’s Saint Patrick Hospital and faculty from a state university have established the Institute of Medicine and Humanities, a partnership of seminars, reading groups and a dedicated library collection intended to integrate literature, philosophy and the arts into clinical practice.

Organizers say the initiative brings humanities disciplines into conversation with medical science to help clinicians understand the “illness narrative” from patients’ perspectives and to broaden ethical decision-making in care. Missoula cardiologist John Stone and faculty in the university’s philosophy department convened a monthly reading group in 1987 that helped seed the institute’s programs, organizers told the meeting transcript.

The program’s activities include regular seminars for physicians, nurses and other health professionals, text-based…