Charon and associates [1] delineate the goals and admirable achievements of the field of literature and medicine. They present scholarly theory and justification for literature courses in medical schools to strengthen the "human competencies of doctoring." The companion editorial by Schneiderman and Memoli Schneiderman [2] advocates a workable plan of action for practitioners so that ill-at-ease physicians who left the "ambiguities of the humanities" for the "concreteness of science" can enjoy literature. In 1993, we described one solution to this academic and clinical tension: a humanities program designed for internal medicine residents and intended to enhance their "humanistic qualities" [3], to deepen their understanding of ethical issues, and to offer stress reduction during these crucial years of training [4]. Incorporating the humanities into residency training should be a serious objective of any internal medicine residency program that hopes to produce internists who integrate humanistic and ethical values, clinical skill, and technological understanding.

Our program adds the humanities to current residency training. A required humanities conference, held quarterly for a 3-year cycle, includes 12 short novels or stories and 3 films and is structured around 4 areas: personal integrity and values, communication skills, human relationships, and ethics. Paperback or photocopies of short works and discussion questions that focus on the specific themes of each session are provided by the program at least 1 month before the scheduled meeting. Conferences are held in the early evening, with discussion followed by dinner. An evening meeting allows spouses to participate and encourages fellowship among the residents and interaction with attendings. Because we have many international medical residents, we choose U.S. works that serve as an exploration of U.S. culture. Our basic structure can be easily adapted, however, to the specific requirements of individual programs.

For the humanities conference, we also purposely avoid "medical" stories, but, for monthly narrative conference, in which residents investigate narrative strategies and sharpen interpretative skills, we read brief works that explicitly address some aspect of the practice of medicine. In addition, a case-based monthly ethics conference answers the need for specific training in biomedical ethics. Our program, which has been well received by six classes of residents, not only shows the scholarly, theoretical underpinnings of clinical training in the art of medicine but also proves that physicians do indeed make excellent and perceptive readers.