MINI REVIEW article
Front. Med.
Sec. Healthcare Professions Education
Reimagining Medical Education: Integrating Medical Humanism and Narrative Medicine into a New Educational Paradigm
Provisionally accepted
- Heilongjiang University of Chinese Medicine, Harbin, China
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Background: Medical education has increasingly prioritized technological competence, often at the expense of humanistic values central to patient-centered care. Aims: This Mini Review examines how medical humanism and Narrative Medicine can be systematically integrated into contemporary medical education to rebalance technical expertise and humanistic care. Key Findings: Current evidence suggests that Narrative Medicine enhances empathy, communication skills, professional identity, and ethical sensitivity. However, integration efforts remain fragmented and are frequently constrained by curricular overload, insufficient faculty preparation, and misaligned assessment systems. Conclusions: Embedding Narrative Medicine within core curricula, supported by interdisciplinary collaboration, longitudinal programs, and rigorous evaluation frameworks, offers a feasible pathway toward a more holistic and sustainable medical education paradigm.
Keywords: artificial intelligence, Educational reform, Ethical dilemmas, Humanism, Medical Education
Received: 05 Dec 2025; Accepted: 02 Jan 2026.
Copyright: © 2026 Hou, Chen and Guo. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Zhitao Hou
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.