Listening to music: the case for its use in teaching medical humanism.

Listening to music has rarely been used by educators as a tool to teach humanism to medical students and residents. The authors present the argument that music embodies the characteristics of medical humanism (i.e., caring, empathy, human dignity, compassion, and the fostering of relationships) and that listening to music is ideally suited for inclusion in a humanism curriculum. The authors also describe an eight-session "music and medicine" course for residents given at their institution as part of an ongoing humanism-in-medicine initiative. The results of a post-course survey given to the participants showed that residents valued the course as an academically valid approach to humanism training.