Building bridges from medicine and humanities: the role of scaffolds and articulation for surgical learning

Introduction: Learning of medicine from humanities is a complex process that requires pedagogical strategies to avoid fragmentation and the paradox of transference. Instructional design in surgical education for these purposes is limited. Objective: To present the results of an educational strategy for the integration of surgery and medical humanities, based on the theoretically perspectives of the cognitive apprenticeship model, and to assess its association with the student's perceptions of learning. Materials and methods: An instructional design was developed for the teaching of clinical conditions through medical humanities. Student perceptions of teachers support and articulation for the integration of both disciplines, and self-perceptions of learning, were evaluated by using validated questionnaires. Linear regression models were used to test the proposed association. Results: A total of 216 students were included in the analysis. High scores were obtained for each variables. The increasing of one unit of teacher's support and articulation to provide integration of both disciplines, is associated with the increasing of the students perception of learning in b =.45 (CI 95%.30-.60) and b =.40 (CI 95%.25 -.55) (R2 =.64, p <.001) respectively. Conclusions: Educational strategies focused on techniques of support and articulation, with the aim to integrate medical humanities and surgery, demonstrate positive associations with student's perceptions of learning. Further studies are needed to evaluate the effects of these interventions on memory and long-term learning.