Cinemeducation: a comprehensive guide to using film in medical education

For several decades, medical edu-cators have used film to introducecomplex topics; the practice is so well entrenched that “Motion pictures as topic ” has been a medical subject head-ing since 1999. Medline currently indexes almost 6000 articles on this sub-ject dating back to the late 1940s. Histo-rians, too, have focused on individual films to highlight social perceptions of medicine determined by period and place.1,2 Some exploit cinema to teach clinical skills: how (or how not) to behave at the bedside.3 Other movie-buffs have analyzed “the doctor ” or “the nurse ” as seen in the movies.4,5 This guide, part of the Radcliffe series on applications of medical humanities to clinical learning, fits the genre with a pragmatic twist: It identi-fies short film clips designed to support “cinemeducation” — a word and method coined by editor Matthew Alexander. The editorial team consists of three family therapists — two psychologists and a social worker — with input from 26 other psychologists, behavioural scientists and family physicians. All are American, with the exception of a sole Brazilian; most of the contribu-tors train residents in family medicine. Unlike a scholarly treatise, this book is predominantly an annotated index. Following celebrity endorsements in two forewards, 30 short chapters are devoted to different themes, including chronic illness, sexual behaviour, aging, substance abuse, research and error. In a paragraph or two, the clinical problem is outlined, then subhead