Understanding the role of the art museum in teaching clinical-level medical students

Visual Intelligence Education as a Tool for Enhancing Medical Students' Self-Perception of Communication Skills

Objective

Visual arts-based exposure and training are effective tools to enhance medical education. The visual arts can increase emotional intelligence and critical thinking skills. This study, conducted at Georgetown University School of Medicine (GUSoM) and the National Gallery of Art (NGA) in Washington, DC, was designed to measure the effect of a visual arts elective course on medical students' self-perception of their communication skills.

Methods

This 6-week course involved lessons at the NGA and GUSoM for16 second-year medical students. The intervention students were age and gender-matched to14 second-year medical student control participants who took different elective courses. Prior to and following the intervention, the participants completed the Communication Skills Attitude Scale (CSAS). Statistical analysis was performed with either the 2-sided t-test or 2-sided Wilcoxon rank-sum test.

Results

There were no statistically significant differences in the presurvey scores between the groups. However, there were 6 CSAS questions in the postsurveys that had statistically significant differences between the 2 groups. Within each group, there were also numerous statistically significant differences between their presurvey and postsurvey responses, with positive changes occurring in the intervention group (IG) and primarily negative changes occurring in the control group (CG). The NGA course improved the self-perception of communication skills, with students reporting stronger views on the importance of communication skills in teamwork and patient rapport. The CG, on the other hand, did not have as many improved perceptions of communication skills and had stronger opinions regarding not needing the ability to communicate well to be a good physician.

Conclusion

This study indicates that medical student communication skills can benefit from exposure to visual arts activities and experiences. Future physicians must become effective communicators, and this study paves the way for research investigating the relationship between visual arts education and the development of a physician's communication skills.

Transformative experiences at art museums to support flourishing in medicine

PURPOSE

We implemented and evaluated a hybrid 4-week arts-based elective for clinical medical students to support flourishing.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Five students participated in early 2022. Twelve sessions occurred in-person at art museums and other cultural centers, and five occurred online. Sessions incorporated varied arts-based learning activities, including Visual Thinking Strategies, a jazz seminar, and a mask-making workshop. We evaluated the course via weekly reflective essays, interviews 6 weeks after the course, and pre-post surveys that included four scales with clinical relevance: capacity for wonder (CfW), tolerance for ambiguity (TFA), interpersonal reactivity index, and openness to diversity.

RESULTS

Qualitatively, the course helped learners: 1) reconnect with individual characteristics and interests that had been neglected during medical education; 2) better appreciate others' perspectives; 3) develop identities as physicians; and 4) engage in quiet reflection, renewing their sense of purpose. Quantitatively, pre-post mean totals increased for the CfW (32.0 [SD 6.8] vs 44.0 [SD 5.7], p=.006) and TFA scales (16.4 [SD 5.2] vs 24.2 [SD 6.9], p=.033).

CONCLUSIONS

This elective facilitated learners' connecting with themselves, others, and their profession with improvement in clinically-relevant measures. This provides further evidence that arts-based education can foster professional identity formation and be transformative for students.

The role of arts-based curricula in professional identity formation: results of a qualitative analysis of learner's written reflections

BACKGROUND

Professional identity formation is an important aspect of medical education that can be difficult to translate into formal curricula. The role of arts and humanities programs in fostering professional identity formation remains understudied. Analyzing learners' written reflections, we explore the relationship between an arts-based course and themes of professional identity formation.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Two cohorts of learners participated in a 5-day online course featuring visual arts-based group activities. Both cohorts responded to a prompt with written reflections at the beginning and end of the course. Using a thematic analysis method, we qualitatively analyzed one set of reflections from each cohort.

RESULTS

Themes included the nature of the good life; fulfilling, purposeful work; entering the physician role; exploration of emotional experience; and personal growth. Reflections written at the end of the course engaged significantly with art - including literature, poetry, lyrics, and film. One student disclosed a mental illness in their reflection.

CONCLUSIONS

Our qualitative analysis of reflections written during a visual arts-based course found several themes related to professional identity formation. Such arts-based courses can also enrich learners' reflections and provide a space for learners to be vulnerable.

PRACTICE POINTS

(five short bullets conveying the main points) Arts-based courses can support learners' professional identity formationReflection themes related to professional identity formation included entering the physician role, fulfilling clinical work, and personal growthAt the end of the course, learners' reflections included significant engagement with artReflective writing in small, arts-based learning communities can provide space for learners to be vulnerableThe Role of Arts-Based Curricula in Professional Identity Formation: Results of A Qualitative Analysis of Learner's Written Reflections.

The Harvard Macy Institute Art Museum-based Health Professions Education Fellowship: Transformational faculty development through the arts

Museum-based education for health professionals can lead to a variety of important learning outcomes within the domain of skills development, personal insight, perspective-taking and social advocacy. The Harvard Macy Institute's Art Museum-based Health Professions Education Fellowship was designed to develop faculty expertise in art museum-based practices, encourage scholarship, and cultivate a cohesive and supportive community of educators. The Fellowship was piloted from January to May 2019 with twelve interprofessional Fellows. Two in-person experiential sessions were held at Boston-area museums with intervening virtual learning. Fellows were introduced to a variety of approaches used in art museum-based education and developed a project for implementation at their home institution. A qualitative formative evaluation assessed immediate and 6-month post-Fellowship outcomes. Outcomes are reported in four categories: (1) Fellows' personal and professional development; (2) Institutional projects and curriculum development; (3) Community of practice and scholarly advancement of the field; and (4) Development of Fellowship model. A follow-up survey was performed four years after the conclusion of the pilot year, documenting Fellows' significant accomplishments in museum-based education, reflections on the Fellowship and thoughts on the future of the field.

Visual thinking Strategies and the peril of 'see one, do one, teach one'

Visual Thinking Strategies is an arts and humanities pedagogical intervention increasingly incorporated into medical education. As a straightforward method that appears easy to use, its nuances are often overlooked or-less frequently-improperly implemented entirely. Such haphazard use can lead to lessened impact for learners, and result in inconsistent and non-generalizable findings in studies in the nascent field of arts and humanities medical education. Critical and often glossed-over components of Visual Thinking Strategies include choosing the appropriate artwork, adhering to the specific 3-question language of the method, facilitating dialogue with effective paraphrasing, framing and linking of participant comments, intentionally utilizing non-verbal communication, and carefully setting up the environment. These components can be systematically taught by strengthening Visual Thinking Strategies training for faculty and adopting faculty development techniques from the K-12 education realm, namely peer and video feedback, where VTS has been used and fine-tuned for decades. It is an opportune time to begin rigorous faculty coaching for Visual Thinking Strategies facilitation and set the standard for art and humanities interventions in medical education.