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.

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

INTRODUCTION: The role of the visual arts in medical education has been understudied, especially with regard to program evaluation and learner assessment of complex competencies such as professional identity, team building, and tolerance for ambiguity. We designed a study to explore how an integrative art museum-based program might benefit 3rd and 4th year medical students. METHODS: We piloted 6 sessions with 18 participants. Evaluation methods included post-session surveys and semi-structured focus groups, which we qualitatively analyzed using an open-coding method. RESULTS: Seven themes emerged from the analysis related to the overarching realms of 'form' and 'function.' 'Form' themes included structural elements of the sessions that enabled engagement: (1) group format, (2) methods (e.g., discussion prompts, activities), (3) setting (e.g., physical space of the museum, temporal space), and (4) objects (e.g., paintings, sculptures). 'Function' themes included the personal and professional value and meaning derived from the sessions: (1) appreciation of others, (2) critical skills, and (3) personal inquiry. DISCUSSION: Our results expand what is known about the role of the visual arts in medical education by suggesting that the visual arts may facilitate clinically relevant learning across a range of competencies via specific formal aspects (group format, method, setting, objects) of art museum-based pedagogical methods.