Humanism in Surgery

Medical Humanities and Narrative Medicine have been increasingly relevant in view of the challenges that new health technologies and the digital world pose to truly person-centered healthcare. By Narrative Medicine we understand the practice of healthcare with narrative skills that allow professionals to recognize the suffering of others and of themselves; be able to interpret verbal and non-verbal narratives of illness; and be motivated to act in a way that respects the Person of the Patient and of the Professional. Surgery, like other medical specialties, requires space for reflection and debate on the meaning of humanism and its impact on the quality of care. This requirement is more pressing in this area, because it has escaped inquiry by Medical Humanities and Narrative Medicine. We believe that this is due to the nature of the surgical activity, carried out in an enclosed place, characterized by the use of sophisticated technologies, including robotics and artificial intelligence, and inaccessible to patients' relatives. In addition, the patients' own expectations about surgery reinforce the technological and highly specialized nature of this area, often marked by the neglect of the relational context, with clear prejudice to the parties involved and the activity itself. Although this gap has been identified, there has been no space for reflection on the humanization of care in surgery. This book is, therefore, innovative, precisely because it responds to the previously mentioned shortcomings, offering its readers the opportunity to reflect on Humanism in Surgery.