Contact Information

Department of Family Medicine


Human Context in Health Care

A required first year course cognitively addressing those non-cognitive, human elements in the clinical encounter that influence the effectiveness of care, structured to provide the student with the opportunity to develop the self-awareness critical to providing effective care.

"It [the course] talks about things that we [the students] would rather not hear about, and challenges us to be honest about things that we've lied to ourselves about all our lives."
A first-year USUHS medical student

Director: Simon Auster, M.D., J.D.
Associate Professor of Family Medicine
Email: simon.auster@usuhs.edu

OVERVIEW:

  • Confidentiality in Military Medicine
  • Uncertainty: The Root of Medical Caring
  • Contextual Thinking: Keeping Your Eye on the Batter, Not Just the Ball
  • Doctor & Patient: What's in a Relationship

THE PHYSICIAN AS A PERSON

  • Malpractice: The Cloud on Your Horizon
  • Sexuality: A Fact of Life
  • When A Patient Dies

THE PATIENT AS A PERSON

  • On Becoming Ill: This Can't Be Happening to Me!!!
  • Chronic Illness: Down But Not Out
  • Going On: Life as a Survivor

THE HUMAN ENVIRONMENT IN HEALTH CARE

  • Alcohol: The Solvent that Doesn't Solve
  • Adam's Rib: A Bone of Contention in Medicine
  • Racism: Not Just Black and White
  • Family Violence: Violence, Like Charity, Begins at Home