Integrating Humanities into Medical Education

Humanities are essential to medical training as they enhance scientific understanding with compassion, ethical decision-making and cultural sensitivity, promoting holistic health care providers. Integrating humanities into medical curricula emphasizes their impact on emotional intelligence, narrative medicine, communication skills, and ethical judgment. Based on diverse methodologies and theoretical frameworks such as narrative medicine and emotional intelligence, this review demonstrates how humanities enhance observational skills, empathy, and professionalism. Innovative strategies that blend medical education with the humanities, such as theater-based learning, art-based observation, and museum visits, are currently being adopted into medical training. Nonetheless, various implementation barriers, such as inadequate assessment tools, excessive workload, and skepticism, affect the successful integration of humanities into medical practice. From a global perspective, disparities in humanities integration between high-income and low-income countries become apparent, highlighting the need for scalable and culturally adapted solutions. Further studies focusing on longitudinal aspects, standardized assessment tools, and approaches to improve accessibility in resource-limited settings are warranted to fill these gaps. This review adds to the argument that the humanities are critical to medical education for building competent, compassionate, and ethically grounded healthcare providers.