(Vienna, 18 December 2020) The Austrian Society for Palliative Medicine has awarded its funding prize to the organisers of the Medical Humanities module of MedUni Vienna's human medicine curriculum for a publication on "Medical Comics".
The publication entitled "Using medical comics to explore challenging everyday topics in medicine: lessons learned from teaching medical humanities" is based on the Medical Comics project launched and implemented by Eva Masel from MedUni Vienna's Division of Palliative Medicine and Andrea Praschinger from MedUni Vienna's Teaching Center.
The term Medical Humanities is used to describe an interdisciplinary field at the interface between medicine and humanities. Its purpose is to reflect the area that lies between medical facts and individual experiences. Raising issues and/or confronting – sometimes unpleasant or challenging – topics stimulates debate and encourages development. The Medical Comics and Medical Humanities project at MedUni Vienna follows the World Health Organization's approach known as "The arts, health and well-being". Graphical representations aim to highlight different areas of concern in a practical way. The advantage of medical comics, which is to provide space for personal reflection and interpretation, is used to do this. Conversely, personal experiences and/or concerns can be expressed through the medium of drawings. Medical Comics and Medical Humanities are embedded within the curriculum in the "Interdisciplinary Case Conferences" line element (year 5) of the human medicine degree course at MedUni Vienna.
The successful associated exhibition entitled "Medical Comics" – Impression – Expression – Interaction" was held in the MedUni's Lecture Center in Vienna General Hospital during the 2019/20 winter semester.
New exhibition
The new exhibition on the theme "Art – Action – Attitude/ Body" to be displayed in the Lecture Center, Level 8, is currently being finalised and, once the restrictions associated with the coronavirus pandemic have been lifted, should be ready to visit by the end of June 2021.