Humanities and Education | Distance Learning Systems (DLSI)

Nursing and the Human Culture

The studies of human culture presents in the nursing field through Humanities courses. Subjects that do not have much relation to nursing have been reconsidered as important and incorporated into nursing as a means to train better nurses. Looking into the branches of Humanities, moreover, you will see that it has subjects that would make nurses knowledgeable on certain issues that aren’t in their nursing curriculum.

One of the branches of humanities is languages. If you know at least one additional language as a medical practitioner, you will have a lot more opportunity as a nurse. Talking to your patient is one thing, but communicating with them in their own language is a higher level of nursing entirely.

Art is a branch in humanities that can be of use when it comes to the nursing profession. Sometimes it takes art to be able to treat a patient, especially when the latter needs special attention. It helps that you can be creative when dealing with your patient. Art can help to open the doors of trust between the nurse and patient. Artistic creativity is a way of thinking that transcends traditional nursing.

Literature is also a study in humanities that is useful in nursing. There are some patients who just can’t stop talking and sharing a their stories. As a nurse, you should be able to handle this type of patient. Sharing an intimate story with them is at times more effective than giving them technical reports about their illnesses. Be prepared and take time to share a line or two.

Philosophy and religion are also main tenets of humanities. This branch in humanities is perfect for those older patients, because these are topics that they usually talk about. If you can join in on the discussion, then you have given them something worthwhile with which to relate to you and their care – something more meaningful to them than administering medicines.

Humanities goes a long way with nursing courses. It makes for a more complete and knowledgeable nurse in return.

Humanities And The Nursing Profession

The study of Humanities may not come as an integral subject to a nursing student. At the outset, it doesn’t cater at all to what nursing is all about. It is only one of those minor subjects that a nursing student has to go through before graduation.

But delving deeper into it, a nursing student may soon find out that the inclusion of Humanities in the curriculum has its own function.

Humanities is the study of human culture. It covers a whole range of topics from history, communication, law, and even anthropology. It has found its way into the nursing field so that nurses will be able to understand why certain people react to certain situations.

That is that inherent use of Humanities in a nursing course. When a nurse could surmise how his patient viewed his illness or how he accepted his own diagnosis, that nurse has his study of human culture functioning within the confines of nursing. It might be just a prerequisite to a nursing degree, but because of its all-encompassing nature, the subject will enable aspiring nurses to get by the conventions of nursing, especially when faced with important decisions.

As in the case of a patient’s history, which include his medical condition in the past. If a nurse could see some patterns in the past in relation to his present illness, then that nurse has done his job quite well. So, the study of Humanities has its own reason for being in the nursing curriculum. It has found its calling in there by helping neophyte nurses, especially when they are faced with medical issues, and laying the predicate for a much more comprehensive diagnosis. Humanities are no longer an ornament in a particular course, it is also helping nurses to become well-rounded medical specialists.

Picture Of Humanities

Our existence has a twin in a general prospect, and that is Humanities. Humanities is the study about human culture, such as literature, philosophy, and history.These have become some of the subjects that conventionally fall under the Humanities umbrella. Expertise on these categories of human aspects give us the opportunity to feel a sense of connection to everyone who have come before us, as well as those who will live after our lifetimes.

We can’t deny that Humanities has contributed a lot. One is how we look at things differently. This illuminates the importance of critical thinking, historical consciousness and creating competent democratic citizens. This allows us to gain a new perception of everything from arts to business models to politics; humanities subjects have been the center of liberal arts tutelage since the ancient Greeks first used them to educate their people.

Inquisitions into human experience speeds up our knowledge about the world. Through the contributions of Humanities scholars, we learn the norms of different cultures, like what goes into creation of art, and how our history was made. Their legacies preserve the great accomplishment of the past, help us to better understand today’s world, and give us ideas on how to rock the future.

Humanities also brings a bit of clarity to the future by providing the conceptual foundation in searching and understanding the human experience. Furthermore, the study of different language can ease the appreciation for the parallelism of cultures .Pondering a sculpture can give an idea on how artist life affects an artistic thinking.

Vigorous, Dynamic and deep that’s what Humanities is and it would until generations to come.

Studying the Humanities

Why is studying the Humanities important? Many have asked that question because to be honest many have also argued that studying the liberal arts or the humanities in general is a complete waste of time. Others would even argue that the Humanities are the unwise path for college students to take because non-technical degrees tend to have unemployment rates compared to those who are studying to be engineers, accountants, or business people.

Dr. Elwood Watson, in his article at diverseeducation.com, has discussed why studying the humanities always will be important. Dr. Watson said, “To minimize the value of the humanities, or any other area of academic inquiry for that matter, to one’s ability to earn an ample salary is to misunderstand the purpose of what such an education is about.”

The humanities provide students with the ability and vital ingredients necessary to think critically and holistically about an overabundance of issues, including business, science and technology for that matter. And, in an article by Scott Samuelson of the Wall Street Journal, businesses and employers were aggressively seeking to employ graduates who possessed “a demonstrated capacity to think critically, communicate clearly and solve complex problems.” Therefore, discrediting the argument of some about the irrelevance of the humanities and how students who study it will not earn as much as those who study other hard sciences.

In addition, Clayton State University, on its departmental website, listed the top 10 reason for people to study the humanities:

To practice the analytical thinking skills you need to be a successful student and employee.
To improve your skill at oral and written communication.
To see the interconnectedness of all areas of knowledge ― how it all fits together.
To develop a global perspective by studying cultures throughout the world.
To deepen your understanding and appreciation of other’s cultures and other’s points of view.
To support and strengthen your local arts community by learning to appreciate the importance of creativity.
To clarify your values by comparing and contrasting them to what others have thought.
To deepen your sources of wisdom by learning how others have dealt with failures, success, adversities, and triumphs.
To appreciate what is enduring and to be able to tell the difference between the meaningless and the meaningful.
To be inspired by some of the greatest minds and thoughts of the ages.

The humanities are the cornerstone of any and complete well-rounded education because it provides a good, solid foundation in critical thinking skills. The importance of the humanities should not be dismissed.

The Significance of Humanities in Nursing

Humanities is the study of human culture. The humanities include human language (ancient or modern), history, literature, law, religion, philosophy and music. Scholars in humanities are commonly called humanists. A lot of schools and universities offer humanities classes consisting of English literature, arts, and global studies. Nursing education can be counted as one. Thus, nursing students ask how important is humanities to their chosen profession.

Nursing is often defined as both an art and science, but humanities have been hesitatingly been studied in the nursing curricula. However, outbreaks of interest in what is called the “nursing humanities” have become obvious. For instance, literary works are rich sources of not only of information, but illumination as well. The study of art, included in the humanities, can make an important contribution to a nurses’ various ways of knowing what is factual. There are also other complementary ways of knowing like ethical and aesthetical, both included in humanities.

Arts and literature give a meaningful learning experience for nursing students. With their nature, students are encouraged to make discussions made up of different interpretations. This kind of interaction allows participants to learn in ways that call forth new ways of thinking.

There are numerous works of literature and arts that provide rich food for the spirit. Also, it gives insight into the nurse-patient relationship and into an individual’s condition. Good literature enhances language concepts, words, and vision of human existence. To have a pool of vocabulary is needed to support a patient care. Today, we are suffering from a scarcity in vocabulary which cannot support appropriate discussions of the moral problems and crises that confront humans.

This confronts the relevance of the humanities to nursing. The concepts included in the said study can reflect upon nursing practitioners and education.

Humanities and Medicine

Medical humanities is an interdisciplinary field of medicine consisting of the humanities, social sciences and the arts. When we say humanities, it involves different studies like the literature, religion, ethics, philosophy, and history. Social sciences, on the other hand, involve cultural studies, psychology, anthropology, sociology, health, and geography. While the arts include theater, literature, film as well as visual arts. These subjects are used to determine the application and relation of specific factors in health and medicine.

Medical humanities is also understood to be an interdisciplinary, and increasingly international undertaking that pulls on the innovative and intellectual skills of diverse disciplines, including literature, art, creative writing, drama, film, music, philosophy, ethical making decisions, anthropology, and history, in pursuit of medical educational goals. This approach to medicine is a wider and generalized view on how individuals are affected by many elements surrounding us.

The health care system recognizes the value of the humanities in preparing health care professionals to tackle the learning and practice of medicine. The interdisciplinary humanities educate students to check out the historical, linguistic, cultural and aesthetic contexts in which we live. It also allows students to discover and attend more fully to the lasting question of what it is to be human and think deeply and critically and react successfully to the complex situations by which we find ourselves.

The intellectual practices of the humanities, along with the expertise in creating a capstone research and studies that deals with the intersection of the humanities and medicine, have the potential to affect students in many ways that will increase their future performance as physicians managing and reaching patients drawn from across different life circumstances and contexts.

The Importance of Humanities in Nursing

When we talk about humanities, we think about it as a branch of science that deals with human nature, but does it have something to do with nursing? This subject is a part of the curriculum of a nursing course as a minor subject or as an elective. It aims to expose the students to a different part of human beings. It gives an idea how people think, react and take action in certain situations they are involved.

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The geniuses of ancient Greece first used the liberal arts to educate their people. They used poetry, paintings, debates etc to make people enhance their understanding, gain new insights and do critical thinking. Through the study of the humanities, we are able to think creatively, think before acting and apprehend situations.

As a nurse, it is important to gain some knowledge about people. They must be able to have a concrete understanding on how the patients feel about themselves and their condition. The more a nurse understands his or her patient, the more he or she can improve the services, use the proper treatment and approach.

Using the human experience, it will provide us with the knowledge about human nature. The works of the humanities scholars in the past have given us understanding of different cultures, how people develop fear, happiness or loneliness, and the proper approaches. Nursing students must learn this to use humanities in their daily shift. The more a nurse understands the patient, the more efficient they become.

By studying popular literature, nurses are able to know and appreciate life experiences. It will help them in attaining awareness and sensitivity towards the many physical and psychological aspects of an individual’s responses to health, illness and hospitalization. Humanities advertise affection from the hurt and discomfort of the disease. It is recognized as a highly effective teaching tool in a comprehensive program for college students of nursing.

Humanities in CLEP

The humanities subject includes numerous subjects, including history, literature, music and art. For those who have a humanities background, you might want to go ahead and take the CLEP test. Passing the CLEP, also called the college-level examination program, provides you with the chance to earn as much as six college credits, which might apply toward your degree. Understanding how to pass this test may reduce the number of classes you have to take throughout your college career.

The initial step in planning for that test is to be aware what the exam entails. The humanities CLEP test covers music, art and literature. You will have to know and find out the works of specific authors and be aware of the qualities of their writing. In addition, you will have to know the specific types of poetry along with other writings. The exam will ask you questions made to test out your general understanding of certain artists, pieces of art and also the history surrounding these, along with other subjects within the humanities. You may even have to identify works of art, sculptures along with other artworks. The exam includes 140 questions that you’ll want to accomplish within 1 hour 30 minutes.

Knowing you’ll go ahead and take the CLEP humanities test later on, spend some time reading through a number of works. Concentrate on classics and popular modern works. You will have to read poetry, plays, short tales, books and nonfiction works to have a good start. When you don’t have time to read a number of works, you might want to study books that provide an introduction to subjects in the humanities. You might not have just as much success using the test just like you browse the works themselves; however, this may give a better approach in studying when time is a concern.

To organize, you need to listen and focus on a number of music styles that will help you get ready for the exam. Review music styles and ideas, and acquaint yourself with a number of artists. You might request buddies or relatives to listening to a bit of music so that you can practice determining the composer or song. Make flash cards with questions regarding artists and composers. Just like other parts of the humanities, you will need to study a number of visual arts. This can include works of art, sculptures and designs of architecture. You must also know the concepts behind film and dance, in addition to being capable of identifying specific good examples. Make yourself familiar with the method and your good to take the exam. The technique is to be familiar with the common, significant and noteworthy details related to humanities.

Humanities Will Endure

Pay attention to the serious talk around universities, read op-eds and publications and you might think the humanities were in greater risk than the earth’s environment. In fact, despite the overheated stated claims, the humanities are not at death’s door. Modern demands will more likely force them into a new shape, and eventually a healthier one. That claim might seem unusual. The percentage of scholars specializing in the humanities has sunk to an all-time low. Learners have turned their backs on art history and literary works in support of studies like bookkeeping and medical, that leads straight to jobs. Governors like Florida’s Rick Scott have proved helpful to undercut areas of study not tuned carefully to employment. President Obama wants education to stress technology, science, engineering and arithmetic. Resources for disciplines in professions like history and linguistics are drying up. The legislature has already reduced the budget of the National Endowment for the Humanities and now Rep. Paul Ryan wants to destroy it.

Analysts of higher education paint a more uncertain image. How many years ago you start counting either degrees or research dollars, determines how depressing the humanities figures look. And with more and more people in America going to college only to qualify themselves for work, most time-honored areas of study have taken a hit, not just the humanities. But even at a conventional, top level organization like Stanford, degrees in humanities professions have dropped so low as to alert teachers into unmatched missionary initiatives.

Whatever precise form changes takes, teachers and their learners are likely to find that the humanities amount to more than a set of separated professions, each stuck on its own island. Ordinary readers might find learned research in art, history and literary works regularly published in language available to them, even released in general-interest publications, as it usually was before 1850. Even political figures may look for the value of erudition efforts. Today’s many humanities jointly form the newest edition of a millennia-long European custom of query into language and its products: inquiry, that is, into worlds that humans have created for themselves and expressed in words. That endeavor will not vanish, even when the present humanities disciplines do.

The World Needs Humanities

It seems that colleges everywhere are getting together to speak up for the humanities. A couple of weeks ago, in London and Oxford, an activist humanities conference gathered Oxford, Soas, Delhi, Nanjing and Virginia. Just hours before, in the US, George Washington University huddled with Turkey’s Bogazici and Morocco’s Al Alkhawayn to begin a worldwide humanities initiative. Next month, at Going Global, the biggest yearly worldwide higher education gathering run by the British Council in Miami, ways to mobilize the humanities, will be one of the main subjects of discussion. And the conversation won’t stop at the higher education surfaces. It will need to pay attention to how to move on from the groundhog times of such workshops and to free this discussion from the academia cycle and into that challenging “real world” which the humanities claim to be able to impact and enhance.

So what’s up with our cloistered researchers and philosophers, our fictional experts, classicists and students of the fine, performing and otherwise liberal arts? Clearly there’s some gathering worldwide anxiety within the academia and it’s mainly around the problems of getting wider public identification for the two beliefs about humanities that are encouraging these discussions. The first conviction is that humanities graduates are very employable and are qualified with exclusive abilities which bring serious benefits to the world of work. Last week saw phone calls in the UK to decrease the expenses for learners of technological innovation and mathematics in order to generate a bigger pool of certified graduates, particularly to educate these crucial subjects in educational institutions.

At the same time in the US, we can see the obverse of that harmless purpose. Political figures in Texas are suggesting that liberal arts learners should anticipate paying full charges and more, with no suspicion of subsidy. Their conversation is that such research is self-indulgence and of no forward value to community, so there’s no reason why such niceties as art appreciation, the history of Russia or the theologies of Hinduism should be openly reinforced. Instead, resources should be completely devoted to STEM subjects (science, technological innovation, engineering and mathematics) and business studies.