Literature & Medicine: Humanities
at the Heart of Health Care

Literature & Medicine is a national award-winning reading and discussion program for health care professionals that, as one participant writes, “renews the heart and soul of health care.”

Special Event: Riveting Theater and Thoughtful Discussion of Domestic Violence in Maine.

Bryan Doerries of Outside the Wire

Outside the Wire's Bryan Doerries facilitating a discussion for a performance at Literature & Medicine’s After Shock Conference.

Literature & Medicine is bringing Outside the Wire back to Maine.

This April Outside the Wire, an innovative, nationally acclaimed reader’s theater troupe, will use scenes from Tennesee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire to spark important public conversations about domestic violence.

Join us!

  • April 16, 2013 | John Ford Theater, Portland High School | Portland
  • April 17, 2013 | Franco-American Heritage Center | Lewiston
  • April 18, 2013 | Gracie Theater, Husson University | Bangor
More details

Read our newest issue of Synapse

...to learn about Literature & Medicine’s growing presence in Veterans Administration hospitals...our plans for the future...notes from our After Shock: Humanities Perspectives on Trauma conference...great books to consider for your discussion group...

Read Synapse

Literature & Medicine
in Department of Veterans Affairs Hospitals

More details

Literature and Medicine Anthologies

Echoes of War: A Literature & Medicine Anthology includes poetry, essays and short stories that raise issues particularly relevant to health care professionals who care for veterans.

Ordering information and more details

 

Imagine What It’s Like: A Literature and Medicine Anthology contains a wide range and large number of selections as well as useful commentary by the editor.

Ordering information and more details

 

Hear talks and presentations by speakers at national Literature & Medicine conferences

After Shock: Humanities Perspectives on Trauma, Washington, D.C, November 2010
Caring for the Caregiver: Perspectives in Literature and Medicine, Manchester, NH, November 2007

Outcomes

Participants between 2005 and 2008 reported a great or medium increase in:

empathy for patients79%
interpersonal skills64%
communication skills58%
job satisfaction62%
cultural awareness67%

Read the report by program evaluator Dr. Bruce Clary of the Muskie School of Public Service.

Participants in VA hospitals across the country in 2011 reported a great or medium increase in:

Empathy for Patients82%
Interpersonal Relations62%
Job Satisfaction61%
Cultural Awareness59%
Communication51%

Read Dr. Clary's report.

It is as important to know the person who has the disease as it is to know the disease the person .has. -- Sir William Osler
 

Program Reach

Literature & Medicine has reached hundreds of providers, staff members, administrators and policy makers in health care facilities across the country, affecting the care of thousands of patients. The program started in Maine and now has involved a total of 25 states: AZ, CA, CT, DE, FL, HI, IL, MD, MA, MO, MT, NE, NV, NH, NJ, NY, NC, OH, OK, RI, SC, SD, UT, VT, VA...and now Argentina!