PUBBLICAZIONE 4/2025

Medical Pedagogy and the Knowledge of Care:
Towards a Person-Centered University Education

Edited by Elsa M. Bruni and Domenico Tafuri

In recent years, university education in the medical-health field has undergone profound rethinking. It is no longer sufficient to guarantee excellent technical-scientific knowledge: it is necessary to integrate this dimension with pedagogical knowledge that enables an education authentically centered on the person, on the quality of care, and on overall well-being.
Medical Pedagogy today represents an essential field of research and practice for developing new educational perspectives capable of combining clinical competence with attention to the relational, ethical, communicative, and existential dimensions of caring (Zannini, 2002). Its presence in university curricula should not be regarded as an accessory element, but as the foundation for the construction of an integral medical-health professionalism.
Since the 1990s, with the pioneering contributions of Bertolini (1994), pedagogical reflection in medicine has called for a redefinition of the relationship between technical and human knowledge.
At the same time, at the international level, Engel (1977) laid the foundations of the biopsychosocial model, subsequently taken up and further developed by Borrell-Carrió, Suchman,
and Epstein (2004), which proposes moving beyond the exclusively biomedical paradigm in favor of a more holistic approach to the person. In this perspective, clinical skills cannot be separated from communicative, relational, and empathic abilities (Decety & Jackson, 2004), nor from the
recognition of the narrative and existential dimensions of illness (Charon, 2008).
Education for care is therefore not limited to the transmission of clinical knowledge, but entails a process of formation, personal growth, and professional development requiring skills in listening, communication, and relational management. In this perspective, the contribution of the medical humanities proves essential - as Zannini (2002) points out - restoring to medical practice its ethical and humanistic dimension. Narrative Medicine, developed by Charon (2008), represents a paradigmatic example: recognizing and honoring stories of illness means acknowledging the unique identity of each patient and contributing to more personalized and effective care. Language itself, understood as a therapeutic tool, also becomes an integral part of the treatment process (Castiglioni,
2019), while pedagogical diagnostic competence (Bobbo, 2020) is essential for understanding the complexity of the illness experience.
Contemporary pedagogical reflection provides important categories for rereading healthcare education. Cambi (2000; 2010) has shown that care, also in its educational dimension, must be regarded as a fundamental formative process for the construction of personal and professional identities. Similarly, Mortari (2002; 2015) and Bruni (2015a; 2015b; 2024) have emphasized the need to restore centrality to the practice of caring and to a philosophy of care capable of guiding educational and healthcare action. These perspectives call health professionals not only to technical competence but also to ethical responsibility, reflexivity, and awareness of their role (Schön, 1983; Bruni, 2021).
Medical Pedagogy also requires a redefinition of university curricula. It is not enough to introduce isolated courses in pedagogy or psychology; they must be integrated transversally with clinical and specialist knowledge so that education develops within a truly interdisciplinary perspective. Frenk (2010) underlined the urgency of a global transformation of health education, capable of strengthening health systems through professionals who are not only technically trained but also more sensitive to the human complexity of care. From this point of view, the acquisition of communicative competence takes on particular importance (Garista & Strohmenger, 2007). The contributions of Kurtz, Silverman, and Draper (2016) and Rider and Keefer (2006) have shown that the teaching of communication skills constitutes a cornerstone in medical training. Such skills can also be reinforced through innovative methodologies such as high-fidelity simulation (Issenberg et al., 2005), which allows students to experience complex situations in protected contexts, developing reflexivity, self-awareness, and relational capacity.

Recent developments in postgraduate training point in the same direction. Ten Cate and Scheele (2007) have proposed the model of competency-based education, which integrates theory and practice, while van der Vleuten (2015) has advanced proposals for a programmatic assessment that
is more formative and less merely certifying, capable of accompanying learning processes throughout the professional trajectory.
In this perspective, even the most recent health policies - such as the Models and Standards for
the Development of Community Care in the National Health System (2022) - underline the need for training that is not only technical but also prepares professionals to care for people in the concrete contexts of everyday life, enhancing proximity, continuity, and personalization. Educational and narrative practices, rooted in the human instinct to narrate (Gottschall, 2014), can serve as a decisive bridge between medical knowledge and personal experience, between clinical competence and individual biography.
In light of these reflections, the journal invites contributions to the debate in the form of theoretical essays, empirical research, teaching experiences, and training practices that explore the role of pedagogical knowledge and the medical humanities in university education within the
medical-health field.
Guidelines on perspectives and methodological criteria
To better guide contributions, authors are required to clearly state the perspective adopted in their work, specifying whether the approach is epistemological, methodological, empirical, or
integrated. This clarification will enhance the transparency and coherence of the call as a whole and foster a more focused scientific dialogue. In addition to theoretical papers, the journal particularly welcomes empirical studies, field research, and case analyses that can document the effectiveness of
educational practices and training interventions in real healthcare contexts. The goal is to create a balance between theoretical reflection and practical applications, stimulating the production of useful and transferable evidence.
For research-based contributions, a concise yet rigorous description of the methodological criteria used is also required. This should include an indication of the qualitative, quantitative, or mixed approaches adopted, the data collection tools, the analysis techniques, and the validation procedures employed (e.g., triangulation, reliability, transferability). Providing such information will strengthen the scientific rigor and comparability of the contributions, thereby enhancing the
overall quality and robustness of the monographic issue.
In particular, contributions will be welcomed that address the following topics:


Medical Pedagogy as the foundation of the education of physicians and healthcare
professionals;

The role of Narrative Medicine and the practices of listening and speech in the care relationship;

The integration of pedagogical and psychological instruction in university medical-health curricula;

Innovative experiences of teaching, simulation, and tutoring that promote the centrality of the person;

Educational perspectives for a medicine of proximity, responsibility, and human dignity;

Assessment models and practices oriented toward the development of integrated competencies.


The challenge today is that of an education which, without renouncing technical-scientific rigor, is at the same time able to restore full centrality to the person in their complexity and
uniqueness. An education that recognizes care as relationship, responsibility, and a profound human act, capable of regenerating medicine both as a science and as an educational practice.

Key Dates
• By October 10, 2025 – Submission of the article
• By November 10, 2025 – Notification of the outcome of the double-blind peer review
• By December 30, 2025 – Publication of the articles
Full papers must be uploaded—following registration/login — via the journal platform:
https://ojs.gsdjournal.it.
Articles must be written in English and strictly adhere to the OFFICIAL TEMPLATE attached to
this email. Failure to comply with the formatting guidelines may result in exclusion from the review
process.