What Do You See, Think, and Wonder? The Power of the Visual Arts in Medical Education across the Learning Continuum

The visual arts and other humanities enhance medical education, guiding trainees to develop humanistic skills that support the biomedical model. Recognizing these benefits, AAMC expects programs to incorporate the humanities into curricula across the medical learning continuum. UME more frequently meets this expectation, but the increasing burden of burnout and compassion fatigue during GME positions residents and fellows to benefit significantly from humanities education. In this workshop, presenters will review the importance of incorporating humanities into UME and GME, key principles for doing so successfully, and challenges frequently encountered in the process. Presenters will introduce the Prism Model for Integrating the Arts and Humanities into Medical Education as a guide for designing curricula that teach learners across the curriculum how to master clinical skills, understand varying perspectives, reflect on personal insights, and develop social advocacy. While most published educational initiatives utilize literature and narratives, the workshop will highlight the unique benefits of the visual arts as an instructional method. Participants will engage in a demonstration of the presenters' interprofessional approach to teaching with the visual arts. After a discussion of publicly accessible resources, participants will follow the Prism Model and brainstorm the design of sessions that include the visual arts. Presenters will conclude with a discussion of proposed initiatives, collaboratively sharing and refining ideas as well as reflecting on the experience of incorporating the visual arts into medical education.