The teaching of medical history is usually included in the program of medical humanities courses available for undergraduate medical students. The role of medical humanities in medical education responds to the need of connecting medical practice with the human dimension of doctor-patient relationship and extra-scientific values involved in clinical decision-making processes. Medical humanities contribute to improve a fuller understanding of patients, cultures and communities, as well as the social dimension of scientific enterprise to cure illnesses and develop new therapies.

The responsibility of educators involved in medical humanities teaching programs is showing to the students that medical history is a great opportunity for evidence-based medical practice because it improves cross-cultural interventions and, at the same time, promote a continuing reform of health care provision.

The ALCMAEON project aims to innovate the teaching of medical history with a new educational approach, the object-based learning, and to work in a better integration of historical, ethical and psychosocial components of medical humanities.

It represents an alternative model of medical history provision and an attempt to overcome the gap between clinical practice and historical perspective of medical humanities, through the representation of the historical scenarios and the integration of historical evidences in specific educational contents.

The ALCMAEON project will collect audio-visual material to digitalize the available collections of medical museum in Italy, Spain, Greece, United Kingdom and Romania, in the attempt to promote the different traditions characterizing European medical history and bring the medical museums in the classroom.

The main target groups of the project are:

• Doctors and universities lectures in humanities in medicine
• Medical students
• Policy Makers in the Field of Education

The project activities will be organized in the following phases:

• Phase 1 - Training package in medical history for medical humanities lecturers
  This phase is devoted to create an educational training package for medical lecturers to be used during their courses. It foresees 12 units related to medical practices in 6 historical periods.
• Phase 2 - Collection for digital medical museum
  
This phase consists in a set of digital contents placed in an open access platform addressed to undergraduate medical students in order to improve their information concerning the historical context explored during the history of medicine courses.
• Phase 3 - Virtual video library with testimonials from role-model doctors
  This phase consists in 20 videos showing the testimonials of doctors or medical lectures experts in history of medicine, which will support the training package and consolidate the link of the history of medicine with the medical profession.
• Phase 4 - Training activity
  A training course involving 10 participants from the partners' countries is organized by University Complutense of Madrid in order to: promote the use of the intellectual outputs; provide the end users with the competences and information concerning the teaching of medical history and the future of medical humanities in medical education.
• Phase 5 - Multiplier events
  A number of multiplier events will be organized to disseminate the results reached, the methodology implemented and output produced in the ALCMAEON project. The participants in the multiplier events will be University medical lecturers and students.

The main project deliverables include:

• Training package in medical history for medical humanities lecturers
• Collection for digital medical museum
• Virtual video library with testimonials from role-model doctor