Music in the epistemology of medicine

Abstract

The pursuit of an integrated health education has led higher education institutions to question themselves on the ideal training for medical students which would foster a real connection with their surroundings: "educate to learn to live in the world and with others, knowing that the other person is both the same and different from me, oriented towards the same end: the shaping of the human being and the social good."1

Treating complex topics such as the processes underlying immunity, genetic transcription and metabolic diseases, among others, presents significant academic challenges for teachers and students in the learning process. However, there is an equally relevant hidden curriculum which may warrant the use of unconventional epistemological tools such as music, and which may be a good complement for acquiring clinical and humanistic skills, notably the capacity to develop semiological abilities and the capacity to develop empathy in critical health situations.

From this point of view, the rehumanization of medicine has become a primary requirement today. Below, we will discuss three complex health situations described in salsa songs which analyze the underlying human emotions, as an invitation to explore the hidden curriculum behind the objectively viewed disease.