Humanity in Healthcare – The Heart and Soul of Medicine

Peter BarrittRadcliffe Publishing2005ISBN 1 85775 836 6

Keywords: Health and medicine, Quality improvement, Patient care

The impressive progress of medical science over the nineteenth and twentieth centuries has tended to overshadow the art of caring for the patient and their families. This book aims to restore the balance by examining practical ways in which the arts can help health professionals to understand the experience of suffering and illness

Written by a family physician with 25 years’ experience, Humanity in Healthcare offers a broad perspective on the potential contribution of the arts toward fostering a humane approach to the care of those who are ill or suffering. It refers to a wide range of literature from prose and poetry,sociology, history, philosophy, politics, religion and spirituality.

Contents include:

• Part 1: The philosophy of health care.

• Part 2: Suffering and spirituality.

• Part 3: The history of healing.