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This section introduces the historical background of integrating English literature courses into medical education, including its origins in the United States in the 1970s, its introduction to China in the 1980s, and the subsequent establishment of related courses in domestic medical schools in the 21st century. It also points out that the role of English literature in medical humanities education has not received sufficient attention, and medical humanities education itself needs strengthening. The importance of medical humanities is emphasized, along with the profound impact of medically themed works in English literature on medical students' understanding of illness, suffering, life, and death, enhancing their sensibility, reflection, aesthetic appreciation, and humanistic literacy, thereby promoting the development of medical humanities education.

I. The Foundation of Integration

This section explores the foundation for integrating English literature with medical humanities education. The shared essence of "human studies" serves as the cornerstone of integration—literature focuses on human emotions, freedom, existence, and spirit, while medicine concerns human psychology, physiology, and disease. Renaissance humanism emphasized the unity of reason and sensibility, science and humanities, but the Industrial Revolution led to the separation of science, morality, and art, resulting in the divergence of medicine and literature. Medical humanities education aims to combine humanities with medical science and practice, cultivating well-rounded, harmonious, and holistically developed medical students. The integration of English literature and medicine is based on shared narrative expressions. The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis suggests that linguistic structures shape thought patterns, and English literature offers perspectives distinct from Chinese, contributing to medical humanities education. English literature and medicine mutually influence and reinforce each other—disease provides material and inspiration for literary creation, while depictions of illness and death in literary texts offer resources for medical humanities education, aligning with explorations of human existence, spirit, value, and dignity.

II. The Significance of Integration

The significance of integrating English literature courses with medical humanities education lies in: 1) Aligning with national education development strategies, advancing the construction of "New Medical Science" and "New Liberal Arts," and promoting interdisciplinary growth; 2) Adapting to modern healthcare models, enhancing narrative competence and humanistic literacy, and improving doctor-patient relationships; 3) Cultivating morality, refining taste, and elevating professional pride and identity among medical practitioners through literary works. The "Healthy China 2030" blueprint and the "Opinions on Implementing Comprehensive Reforms in Clinical Medical Education" by the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Health both emphasize the importance of humanistic care in the medical field and fostering harmonious doctor-patient relationships. The integration of English literature into medical education aligns with national development trends, promotes medical humanities, and resonates with the interdisciplinary convergence of New Medical Science and New Liberal Arts. English for Specific Purposes (ESP) offers a pathway for English educators and students to navigate challenges and achieve transformation, serving as a viable direction for the development of foreign language and literature disciplines. Modern healthcare models, centered on patients, require practitioners to possess profound humanistic literacy. Narrative medicine is a practical approach to integrating literature into medicine, enhancing medical students' humanistic competence through the study and discussion of literary works, encouraging them to focus on patients' suffering and psychological experiences. The key to practicing narrative medicine lies in providing patient-centered care with humanistic concern, understanding patients' worries and hopes, and actively reflecting on one's medical practice. Medical humanities education must acknowledge the dignity, interests, and value of both patients and physicians as human beings. The healing and comforting power of literature also applies to physicians—exhausted doctors need respite to regain strength. Reading classic English literary works can inspire medical professionals' appreciation for life, rediscover meaning, perceive poetic beauty, and find spiritual solace, drawing self-healing strength from aesthetic experiences.

III. Pathways for Integration

This section discusses various pathways for integrating English literature courses into medical humanities education. First, it proposes revising the talent cultivation plans of medical schools to construct a medical humanities curriculum system that includes English literature, clarifying its position within the framework. Second, it advocates leveraging modern information technology to develop blended teaching models, employing diverse evaluation methods to enhance pedagogical effectiveness. Additionally, it emphasizes curriculum ideology and politics as a guiding principle, introducing cross-cultural perspectives and critically learning from international experiences to form a medical humanities curriculum with Chinese characteristics. The chapter also suggests exploring teaching and research methods for English literature, such as close reading and reflective writing, to cultivate medical students' core competencies and habits. Finally, it encourages research activities in medical humanities to advance teaching through research, shaping a vision for medical humanities, and underscores the importance of role models in medical humanities education.

IV. Conclusion

This section highlights the importance of English literature in medical humanities education, arguing that it fosters humanistic spirit and elevates the ideals, beliefs, and sense of mission among medical students and practitioners. The intellectual, creative, and aesthetic qualities of English literature resonate with medical humanities education's focus on life, freedom, and beauty. Through reading literary classics, medical students and professionals can make more humanistic choices in the face of adversity, resisting the alienation and commodification of modern society. Literary criticism theory provides intellectual training, helping medical practitioners reflect on clinical practice and engage with life experiences. The integration of English literature courses is crucial for the development and flourishing of medical humanities education.