Medical Students' Creation of Original Poetry, Comics, and Masks to Explore Professional Identity Formation

Medical education and creative writing: Poetry and how it can assist trainees in developing psychiatric formulation skills

OBJECTIVE

To reflect on the importance of teaching formulation skills in psychiatry training and explore how creative writing, particularly writing poetry, can help achieve this goal.

CONCLUSIONS

It is vital that formulation skills are embedded throughout psychiatry training. Formulations have an artistic element, and writing poetry can help foster a capacity for curiosity that can assist trainees in developing these skills.

Graphic Novels and Comics in Undergraduate and Graduate Medical Students Education: A Scoping Review

There is an increasing use of graphic novels and comics (GnCs) in medical education, especially-but not only-to provide students with a vicarious learning experience in some areas of clinical medicine (palliative care, difficult communication, and rare diseases). This scoping review aimed to answer questions about how GnCs are used, the theories underlying their use, and the learning outcomes. Twenty-nine articles were selected from bibliographic databases and analyzed. A thematic analysis revealed four many themes: learning outcomes, students' reactions, theories and methods, and use of GnCs as vicarious learning. GnCs can support the achievement of cognitive outcomes, as well as soft skills and professionalism. The reactions were engagement and amusement, but drawing comics was also perceived as a protected space to express concerns. GnCs proved to be a possible way to provide a vicarious experience for learning. We found two classes of theories on the use of GnCs: psychological theories based on the dual concurrent coding of text and images and semiotics theories on the interpretation of signs. All the studies but two were single arm and observational, quantitative, qualitative, or mixed. These results suggest that further high-quality research on the use of GnC in medical training is worthwhile.

A Pilot Study of Art Museum-Based Small Group Learning for Pre-Health Students

Introduction

Health professions educators are increasingly recognizing the fundamental role the arts and humanities play in professional identity formation; however, few reports exist of programs designed specifically for pre-health professional students.

Methods

We designed and delivered four, 2.5-h sessions for pre-health professions students at a local museum in partnership with museum educators. Participants were invited to respond to a follow-up survey asking about their perceived insights from and importance of the session. We used descriptive statistics and thematic content analysis for quantitative and qualitative data, respectively.

Results

Ten of the participants responded to the survey (n=10/23, response rate=43%) and all supported the integration of such an experience in their pre-health curriculum. The qualitative analysis of responses to the open-ended item about any insights gained from participation in the program revealed three themes: cultivation of the health professional, personal growth, and awareness and appreciation of multiple perspectives.

Discussion

Participants who responded to our survey drew meaningful connections to the relevance of these sessions to their development as future professionals.

Pharmacy Students' Perceptions of the Pharmacist Role: An Arts-Informed Approach to Professional Identity Formation

Elements of professional identity are closely intertwined with professional roles, and individuals perceive themselves in relation to their roles. How pharmacists perceive their professional identity influences how they enact their roles in practice. For pharmacy students, understanding the pharmacist role and envisioning themselves in that role supports the formation of their professional identity. This study explores students' perceptions of the pharmacist role. First-year pharmacy students enrolled in the Doctor of Pharmacy program at the University of Alberta were invited to participate in this study. Using an adapted version of the draw-and-write technique, participants were asked to express their understanding of the pharmacist role visually. An analysis of the results was guided by established discourses related to pharmacist identity derived from pharmacy education literature. In total, 100 pharmacy students participated in this study. The findings indicate that pharmacy students have a comprehensive understanding of the pharmacist role, especially the dispenser and health care provider aspects of a pharmacist's professional identity. Additionally, students acknowledged the involvement of pharmacists in health care teams, in public health, and primary health care services. A discourse related to professional identity, the multi-faceted professional, emerged to describe the coexistence of multiple roles in modern pharmacy practice. An arts-based activity successfully facilitated the exploration of pharmacy students' perceptions of the professional role of pharmacists. This approach has potential in supporting instruction regarding professional identity formation within the curriculum.

Effectiveness of health communication courses on professionalism and social media competence among nursing students: A randomized controlled trial

BACKGROUND

The shaping and cultivation of professionalism of nursing students is very important for the improvement and retention of nursing workers' quality. In the context of social media, it is challenging for nursing students to use social media for health education. Health communication course has the potential to cultivate professionalism and social media competence of nursing students, but its role still needs to be explored.

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the effectiveness of health communication course intervention on improving the professionalism and social media competence of nursing students.

DESIGN

A randomized controlled trial.

METHODS

The recruited nursing students were randomly divided into the intervention group (N = 50) and the control group (N = 51). The control group received routine nursing education. Intervention group received routine nursing education and health communication education courses. Both groups were required to submit a health communication work on any topic. The Nursing Professionalism Scale、Social Media Self-efficacy Scale and Social Media Experience Scale were used to evaluate the professionalism and social media competence of nursing students. The primary analysis used linear mixed models and followed the intention-to-treat principle.

RESULTS

The professionalism, social media self-efficacy and social media experience of students in the two groups were significantly improved, and the improvement of nursing students in the intervention group was higher than that in the control group. After the intervention of health communication course, there were significant differences in professionalism (p < 0.001), social media self-efficacy (p = 0.006) and social media experience (p = 0.013) between the two groups. Social media self-efficacy have an effect on professionalism (ꞵ = 0.22, p < 0.001, 95 % CI 0.17-0.26).

CONCLUSION

The health communication course significantly improved social media competence and professionalism, which was significantly different from the control group, revealing the educational value of the intervention.

TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER

ChiCTR2200058425.

Characteristics and patients’ portrayals of Norwegian social media memes. A mixed methods analysis

Background

Despite reports on troublesome contents created and shared online by healthcare professionals, a systematic inquiry of this potential problem has been missing. Our objective was to characterize the content of healthcare-associated social media memes in terms of common themes and how patients were portrayed.

Materials and methods

This study applied a mixed methods approach to characterize the contents of Instagram memes from popular medicine- or nursing-associated accounts in Norway. In total, 2,269 posts from 18 Instagram accounts were included and coded for thematic contents. In addition, we conducted a comprehensive thematic analysis of 30 selected posts directly related to patients.

Results

A fifth of all posts (21%) were related to patients, including 139 posts (6%) related to vulnerable patients. Work was, however, the most common theme overall (59%). Nursing-associated accounts posted more patient-related contents than medicine-associated accounts (p &lt; 0.01), but the difference may be partly explained by the former focusing on work life rather than student life. Patient-related posts often thematized (1) trust and breach of trust, (2) difficulties and discomfort at work, and (3) comical aspects of everyday life as a healthcare professional.

Discussion

We found that a considerable number of Instagram posts from healthcare-associated accounts included patients and that these posts were diverse in terms of contents and offensiveness. Awareness that professional values also apply online is important for both healthcare students and healthcare providers. Social media memes can act as an educational resource to facilitate discussions about (e-)professionalism, the challenges and coping of everyday life, and ethical conflicts arising in healthcare settings.

Can an Arts Course Help Mitigate Medical Student Burnout?

INTRODUCTION

Burnout in healthcare providers begins early, with about half of medical students experiencing symptoms of burnout, and as many as one-quarter experiencing depression. While organizational, systemic-level changes certainly contribute to mitigation, organizationally sponsored individual-level changes may also play a significant role. Although the nature of the burnout epidemic and its impact on trainee wellness is fairly well understood, and interventions have been studied, there remains a gap in the empirical research examining the impact of the arts on medical student well-being.

METHODS

We designed a convergent mixed methods study to evaluate whether a 9-month course for fourth-year medical students called Art as Self Care (AASC) would help trainees develop habits that supported their well-being. An online survey was used to collect data at the beginning and end of each academic year on two consecutive cohorts of students. A focus group explored students' experience with and perceptions about the course.

RESULTS

Qualitative results indicated that the AASC course provided positive distraction that is calming and allowed students to shift focus from the stresses of daily medical school life. Our quantitative results suggest that art might provide a slight protective effect in medical students: whereas 22% of the non-AASC students saw a worsening of their psychological distress across the fourth year of medical school, this was observed in only 13% of the AASC students.

DISCUSSION

Our study presents pilot and feasibility data to better inform future research and practice around the use of art to support medical student well-being.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s40670-022-01604-y.

In-verse reflection: structured creative writing exercises to promote reflective learning in medical students

Medical educators recognize the value of reflection for medical students and the role creative writing can play in fostering this. However, direct creative writing tasks can be challenging for many students, particularly those with limited experience in the arts and humanities. An alternative strategy is to utilize an indirect approach, engaging students with structured tasks that obliquely encourage reflection. This paper reports one such approach. We refer to this approach as in-verse reflection, playing on both the structure of the writing and its novel approach to reflection. Students were invited to write, in verse-like structures, about their personal and clinical experiences as medical students. Thematic analysis of their creative outputs and reactions identified four principal themes: the challenges of life as a medical student, the emotional demands of the medical course, a sense of connectedness and solidarity with fellow students, and a sense of marginality within the hospital system. Students generally found the tasks highly engaging and conducive to reflection, producing texts representing significant insights into their experiences as medical students. The reported method offers a relatively simple, structured, and guided approach to reflective writing, adding to the repertoire of methods available to educators in the medical humanities.