Department of Medical Ethics and Humanities

Department Focus

The main mission of the department is to commemorate and develop the humanities and social sciences of modern medicine and nursing and to contribute to a comprehensive view of issues of health, disease and treatment.

In today's world, health professionals face not only professional challenges, but also a wide range of ethical, legal and other social science issues. The course includes topics from medical ethics, medical psychology, sociology and introduction to humanities and social sciences related to medicine and healthcare. Furthermore, in teaching we present psychological assumptions and sociological determinants of ethical behavior, analyze irrational motives of actors, present philosophical criticism of modern science, ontogenesis of the human psyche, psychosomatic approach or patients' rights and the friendliness of the health care system.

In teaching, we emphasize case studies, which often show the benefits of respecting humanities and social science topics for the provision of quality health care.

For the general public with an interest in bioethical topics, the department organizes an international meeting of the Prague School of Bioethics.

The department was founded in 1991 by MUDr. Petr Příhoda (1939–2014), who was active on it until 2014. PhDr. Ingrid Strobachová, Ph.D., was the head of the department until 2017. Since 2018, Mgr. et Mgr. Martin Zielina, Ph.D.

Mgr. et Mgr. Martin Zielina, Ph.D.
Department Medical Ethics and Humanities, Second medical faculty of Charles University, October 2021

Last update: 20. 2. 2024