Medicine in Contemporary Society Selectives
Course Goals
MCS Selectives give students an opportunity to expand their knowledge of ethical, social, cultural, and humanistic issues in medicine in a manner reflective of their own career choices and particular interests. MCS focuses on mastery of knowledge and attitudes related especially to the following core competencies: professionalism and ethics, communication, self-awareness, social context of medical care, and health care systems.
How to Register: Visit CBase -- Choose the Registration Tab and then MCS Selective Registration
Index of Selectives for Class of 2029
- Art and Diagnostic Observation in Medicine
- Becoming a Better MD Through Poetry - Astonished Harvest
- Child Life in Practice: Supporting Hospitalized Children and their Families
- Children and Ethics
- From Insights to Impact: The Promise of Big Data in Decreasing Health Care Disparities
- Health Law for Physicians
- Hospice as Palliative Care
- Narrative Medicine
- Pain, Drugs, and Ethics
- Quality and Safety in Medicine
- Trauma Informed Care and the "Difficult" Patient
- Treating Patients with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities
- Treatment and Advocacy for gender-diverse and sexual minority patients
- The Writing Away Racism Project (WARP): Becoming an Anti-Racist Physician
Descriptions and Syllabi
Course Title: Art and Diagnostic Observation in Medicine
Faculty: Michael Vetrano
michael.vetrano@stonybrookmedicine.edu
Description
Art observation and diagnostic medicine refers to the use of art and visual arts education
to enhance medical students' observation skills, visual literacy, and, ultimately,
their diagnostic abilities. As the field of medicine grows more streamlined, physicians
are spending less time with their patients. There is much evidence that this decrease
in time, coupled with increased reliance on imaging and test results, can depersonalize
the illness experience, resulting in both emotional dissatisfaction and reduced accuracy
of diagnosis. This course demonstrates how the humanities, including visual arts,
can improve physicians' ability to "see" and interpret clinical information effectively.
Note: This selective has one field trip (local).
Course Title: Becoming a Better MD Through Poetry - Astonished Harvest
Faculty: Jack Coulehan and Richard Bronson
John.Coulehan@stonybrookmedicine.edu
Richard.Bronson@stonybrookmedicine.edu
Description
Through the study of poetry as it relates to the medical experience, we hope to foster
a closer type of critical reading, an ability for a caregiver to understand and convey
the needs of a patient, and an appreciation of the common concerns of the healing
professions. This selective is designed for students interested in reflecting on their
experience in medical school through the medium of poetry. It is open to students
who have never written poetry, as well as to those who have pursued poetry in the
past and wish to re-visit their Muse.
Course Title: Child Life in Practice: Supporting Hospitalized Children and their Families
Faculty: Michael Attard
Michael.Attard@stonybrookmedicine.edu
Description
This four-session experiential course introduces medical students to the field of
Child Life and its critical role in supporting hospitalized children and their families.
Note: The selective may meet at times outside of the regular MCS Selective dates. Please check the syllabus for dates and times and be sure you can accommodate them.
Course Title: Children and Ethics
Faculty: Rina Meyer and Kathy Culver
Rina.Meyer@stonybrookmedicine.edu
Kathleen.Culver@stonybrook.edu
Description
Much of the discourse in contemporary medical ethics focuses on the relationship of
mature and autonomous patients to their physicians. The world of children as patients
is therefore a unique world since these youngest patients have limited ability for
self-determination and limited legal status as minors. Those who specialize in the
treatment of neonates, children, and adolescents find themselves in a ethically and
legally complicated world in which the treatment of a patient as a person is a uniquely
challenging ideal.
Course Title: From Insights to Impact: The Promise of Big Data in Decreasing Health Care Disparities
Faculty: Cordia Beverley and Rajarsi Gupta
cordia.beverley@stonybrookmedicine.edu
rajarsi.gupta@stonybrookmedicine.edu
Description
This Selective will introduce medical students to healthcare data analytics and how
it can be used to improve the delivery of healthcare services. The goal is to help
students improve their understanding of patient populations in Suffolk County, to
whom they will provide medical care during their clinical years. By understanding
and using available data sources, students will learn to identify trends and gaps
with respect to various health issues within the context of being a “Health Commissioner
for a Day,” who can design potential strategies to mitigate health disparities in
Suffolk County.
Course Title: Health Law for Physicians
Faculty: Caitlyn Tabor
Caitlyn.Tabor@stonybrookmedicine.edu
Description
This selective introduces medical students to the legal landscape in which clinical
care actually occurs. Rather than treating law as a set of abstract rules or litigation
risks, this course examines law as a structural force that shapes medical authority,
clinical judgment, patient autonomy, institutional power, and moral distress. Through
real cases, clinical hypotheticals, and group discussion, students will learn how
legal standards intersect (often imperfectly!) with ethical obligations, professional
identity, and the realities of patient care.
Note: This selective may require participation by Zoom.
Course Title: Hospice as Palliative Care
Faculty: Kathy Van Steen
liveluvyoga@gmail.com
Description
This selective will present the role of hospice in the terminal care of the dying.
As palliative care, hospice offers a method of care that has become main-stream, unlike
it had been in the early days of modern medicine.
Course Title: Narrative Medicine
Faculty: Susan Walker
susan.walker@stonybrookmedicine.edu
Description
All patient care begins with a story. But how well trained are we to listen and respond
to stories in a meaningful way? In this selective, we will borrow from the world of
literature to develop our skills of close reading and reflective writing. In doing
so, we will seek to hear our patients’ stories, understand the perspectives of our
colleagues, and gain insight into ourselves.
Course Title: Pain, Drugs, and Ethics
Faculty: Kevin Zacharoff
kevin.zacharoff@stonybrookmedicine.edu
Description
Pain is one of the most common reasons that people seek medical attention in the United
States today. Since 2000 it has been considered to be the "Fifth Vital Sign." For
physicians the management and control of pain poses many ethical problems. Among these
this course will consider the increased prescribing of opioid medications for patients
with chronic pain, along with abuse, misuse, and addiction related to these medications.
We will also examine the special issues of terminal sedation, physician assisted suicide,
the legal and ethical issues involved in assisting people with intractable pain.
Course Title: Quality and Safety in Medicine
Faculty: Jean Mueller
Jean.Mueller@stonybrookmedicine.edu
Description:
This Selective will examine Patient Safety and Quality Improvement strategies and
evaluation techniques that can improve performance and outcome measures in the delivery
of health care services throughout the continuum of care.
Course Title: Trauma Informed Care and the "Difficult" Patient
Faculty: Erica Newton
erica.newton@stonybrookmedicine.edu
Description:
Traumatic experiences can have lasting and wide-ranging physiological, emotional,
and behavioral effects. These can interfere with patients’ ability to interact effectively
with the health care system, earning them the label “difficult” while treatable conditions
like PTSD go unrecognized. Trauma-informed care offers a blueprint for successfully
engaging with trauma survivors—and other patients, too. This is a course about trauma
and about patients we find behaviorally challenging, with lessons for how we care
for all patients.
Course Title: Treating Patients with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities
Faculty: Michelle Ballan
michelle.ballan@stonybrook.edu
Description:
The Selective will explore ethical practice with individuals with disabilities with
a detailed focus on how to communicate and treat patients effectively. Physicians
with decades of experience with this patient population will serve as guest lecturers
providing a case-based learning approach to best practice with patients with disabilities.
Course Title: Treatment and Advocacy for gender-diverse and sexual minority patients
Faculty: Allison Eliscu
allison.eliscu@stonybrookmedicine.edu
Description:
Physicians will encounter sexual minority and gender-diverse patients in all areas
of health care. Our goal in medicine should always be to promote access to comprehensive
care and provide effective, appropriate, and affirming medical care for all patients.
This selection will explore the developing realities in the treatment of, and advocacy
for, gender-diverse patients.
Course Title: The Writing Away Racism Project (WARP): Becoming an Anti-Racist Physician
Faculty: Maria Basile and Tiffany Lin, MS4
maria.basile@stonybrookmedicine.edu
tiffany.lin@stonybrookmedicine.edu
Description:
Can we dismantle systemic and interpersonal racism in medicine? The Writing Away Racism
Project (WARP) hopes to do just that! WARP is a series of creative writing workshops
that offers safe spaces for attendees and facilitators to develop practical knowledge,
skills and attitudes necessary to unlearn racism and promote anti-racist behavior.
This MCS selective offers four highly interactive, memorable and effective workshops
that use inspiring poetry and thought-provoking quotes to encourage authentic conversations
and a transformative growth experience.
No prior writing experience is needed! Just your presence and willingness to engage
with this immersive experience. The goal is to help transform students from being
“not racist” to being “anti-racist” as this is more effective for dismantling racism
in daily life and in healthcare. Through the power of deep listening and consistent
critical reflection, WARP aims to humanize complex issues, empower students, and build
a collective commitment to equity and inclusion in medicine.