(Vienna, 27 September 2023) An innovative teaching project at MedUni Vienna has been awarded the Recognition Prize at this year's Ars Docendi State Prize Awards. "Medical Humanities" achieved a shortlist nomination in the category "Learning Outcomes-Oriented Teaching and Examination Culture" and received a recognition award.
Studying medicine involves the comprehensive acquisition of knowledge, skills and attitudes. At MedUni Vienna, this broad spectrum of skills is strengthened by discussing aspects of medical humanities with medical students, among other things. Challenging situations in everyday medical life are addressed in this project with a range of freely selectable forms of expression, for example graphic illustrations, literature, medical comics and music. These have proven their worth in situations when it was necessary to communicate the unspeakable. In a four-year project, this method was tested, adopted in compulsory lessons and rolled out to different teaching elements. Difficult realities such as communication barriers, disgust, challenges in everyday life and helplessness etc. were addressed. These correspond to situations that are encountered in everyday medical practice and require individual coping mechanisms.
Andrea Praschinger, Ruth Kutalek, Ruth Koblizek, Anahit Anvari-Pirsch and Eva Masel were nominated.
About the Ars Docendi State Prize
In order to emphasise the great importance of teaching in the science system on the one hand and the necessary cooperation in the tertiary education sector on the other, as well as to support the associated quality development in higher education teaching as a whole, the "Ars Docendi State Prize for Excellent Teaching" has been offered since 2013 together with the Universities Conference, the Universities of Applied Sciences Conference, the Austrian Conference of Private Universities, the Rectors' Conference of the Austrian Universities of Teacher Education and the Austrian National Union of Students. The state prize was awarded in the five thematic categories and recognition prizes were also awarded.