Skip to main content

Abstract

A review of the literature identifies the visual arts, reflective writing, poetry, music, and theater as humanities disciplines that frequently intersect with medicine and medical education. Therefore, these five areas have been selected for further exploration in this chapter. We will use a 3-part framework to explore how each of these areas of the humanities can impact physicians to foster resilience, joy, and a sense of connection with their patients and the greater community:

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 69.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  1. Ellis DL. Using the arts and humanities to build resilience and well-being and reduce burnout in pediatrics health leaders. 2019. Available from https://postgraduateeducation.hms.harvard.edu/thought-leadership/using-arts-humanities-build-resilience-well-being-reduce-burnout-pediatrics-health-leaders.

  2. Physician Burnout. 2017. Available from https://www.ahrq.gov/prevention/clinician/ahrq-works/burnout/index.html.

  3. Wear D, Nixon L. Literary inquiry and professional development in medicine: against abstractions. Perspect Biol Med. 2002;45(1):104–24.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Kumagai AK. A conceptual framework for the use of illness narratives in medical education. Acad Med. 2008;83(7):653–8.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. Snow CP. Snow_1959.Pdf. New York: Cambridge University Press; 1959.

    Google Scholar 

  6. Mehta N. Mind-body dualism: a critique from a health perspective. Mens Sana Monogr. 2011;9(1):202–9.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  7. Gendle MH. The problem of dualism in modern western medicine. Mens Sana Monogr. 2016;14(1):141–51.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  8. Wald HS, Anthony D, Hutchinson TA, Liben S, Smilovitch M, Donato AA. Professional identity formation in medical education for humanistic, resilient physicians: pedagogic strategies for bridging theory to practice. Acad Med. 2015;90(6):753–60.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Mangione S, Chakraborti C, Staltari G, Harrison R, Tunkel AR, Liou KT, et al. Medical students’ exposure to the humanities correlates with positive personal qualities and reduced burnout: a multi-institutional U.S. survey. J Gen Intern Med. 2018;33(5):628–34.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  10. Viney W, Callard F, Woods A. Critical medical humanities: embracing entanglement, taking risks. Med Humanit. 2015;41(1):2–7.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  11. Shedlock J, Sims RH, Kubilius RK. Promoting and teaching the history of medicine in a medical school curriculum. J Med Libr Assoc. 2012;100(2):138–41.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  12. Dyrbye L, Herrin J, West CP, Wittlin NM, Dovidio JF, Hardeman R, et al. Association of racial bias with burnout among resident physicians. JAMA Netw Open. 2019;2(7):1–15.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Jones DS, Greene JA, Duffin J, Harley WJ. Making the case for history in medical education. J Hist Med Allied Sci. 2015;70(4):623–52.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  14. Scanlan M. Meeting a medical artifact. 2021. Available from https://www.continuum.umn.edu/2020/02/meeting-a-medical-artifact/.

  15. Chrousos G, Mammas I, Spandidos D. The role of philosophy in medical practice. Exp Ther Med. 2019;18:3215–6.

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  16. Visual Arts. Oxford English Dictionary. 2019. Available from http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/258346?redirectedFrom=visual+arts#eid.

  17. Cooke GPE, Doust JA, Steele MC. A survey of resilience, burnout, and tolerance of uncertainty in Australian general practice registrars. BMC Med Educ. 2013;13:2.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  18. Grupe D, Nitschke J. Uncertainty and anticipation in anxiety. Nat Rev Neurosci. 2013;14(7):488–501.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  19. Mukunda N, Moghbeli N, Rizzo A, Niepold S, Bassett B, DeLisser HM. Visual art instruction in medical education: a narrative review. Med Educ Online. 2019;24(1):1558657.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  20. Gowda D, Dubroff R, Willieme A, Swan-Sein A, Capello C. Art as sanctuary: a four-year mixed-methods evaluation of a visual art course addressing uncertainty through reflection. Acad Med. 2018;93(11):8–13.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. American Art Therapy Association. Definition of art therapy. 2019. Available from https://arttherapy.org/about/.

  22. Schoonover B. The captive audience. Art Educ. 1986;39(3):33–5.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Reed K, Cochran KL, Edelblute A, Manzanares D, Sinn H, Henry M, et al. Creative arts therapy as a potential intervention to prevent burnout and build resilience in health care professionals. AACN Adv Crit Care. 2020;31(2):179–90.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  24. Sell M, Monaghan S, Sanchez R. Can the arts help critical-care health professionals cope? 5280. 2019. Available from https://www.5280.com/2019/04/can-the-arts-help-critical-care-health-professionals-cope/.

  25. Fioretti C, Mazzocco K, Riva S, Oliveri S, Masiero M, Pravettoni G. Research studies on patients’ illness experience using the narrative medicine approach: a systematic review. BMJ Open. 2016;6(7):e011220.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  26. Charon R, Hermann N, Devlin MJ. Close reading and creative writing in clinical education: teaching attention, representation, and affiliation. Acad Med. 2016;91(3):345–50.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  27. Chen PJ, Da HC, Yeh SJ. Impact of a narrative medicine programme on healthcare providers’ empathy scores over time. BMC Med Educ. 2017;17(1):1–8.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  28. Remein CDF, Childs E, Pasco JC, Trinquart L, Flynn DB, Wingerter SL, et al. Content and outcomes of narrative medicine programmes: a systematic review of the literature through 2019. BMJ Open. 2020;10(1):e031568.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  29. Miller E, Balmer D, Hermann N, Graham G, Charon R. Sounding narrative medicine: studying students’ professional identity development at Columbia university College of physicians and surgeons. Acad Med. 2014;89(2):335–42.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  30. Gaufberg EH, Batalden M, Sands R, Bell SK. The hidden curriculum: what can we learn from third-year medical student narrative reflections? Acad Med. 2010;85(11):1709–16.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  31. Braun UK, Gill AC, Teal CR, Morrison LJ. The utility of reflective writing after a palliative care experience: can we assess medical students’ professionalism? J Palliat Med. 2013;16(11):1342–9.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  32. Arntfield SL, Slesar K, Dickson J, Charon R. Narrative medicine as a means of training medical students toward residency competencies. Patient Educ Couns. 2013;91(3):280–6.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  33. Katz L School of Medicine at Temple University. Medical humanities and the narrative medicine program. Temple University. 2020. Available from https://medicine.temple.edu/narrative-medicine-program.

  34. The art and craft of storytelling. The Moth. 2020. Available from https://themoth.org/?gclid=CjwKCAjwq_D7BRADEiwAVMDdHoPbldxX73_aLNnEOaOt8a1-D-gZJbRAEVHiWnoFMTKWbbbp8A1cexoCQm8QAvD_BwE.

  35. Olson ME, Walsh MM, Goepferd AK, Trappey B. Sharing stories to build resilience: articulating the common threads that connect us. J Grad Med Educ. 2019;11(3):340–1.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  36. Wassiliwizky E, Koelsch S, Wagner V, Jacobsen T, Menninghaus W. The emotional power of poetry: neural circuitry, psychophysiology and compositional principles. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci. 2017;12(8):1229–40.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  37. Russell H. The culture cure: how prescription art is lifting people out of depression. The Guardian. 2019. Available from https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jul/31/upside-denmark-culture-mental-health-singing-theatre.

  38. Gibson L. The physician-poet. Harvard Magazine. 2019. Available from https://harvardmagazine.com/2019/05/poetry-medicine-doctor.

  39. Weiner S. The healing power of poetry. 2019. Available from https://www.aamc.org/news-insights/healing-power-poetry.

  40. O’Toole A, Francis K, Pugsley L. Does music positively impact preterm infant outcomes? Adv Neonatal Care. 2017;17(3):192–202.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  41. Chanda ML, Levitin DJ. The neurochemistry of music. Trends Cogn Sci. 2013;17(4):179–93.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  42. Pelletier CL. The effect of music on decreasing arousal due to stress: a meta-analysis. J Music Ther. 2004;41(3):192–214.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  43. McCaffrey S. Music as medicine. Harvard Medical School. 2020. Available from https://hms.harvard.edu/news/music-medicine.

  44. Shapiro J, Hunt L. All the world’s a stage: the use of theatrical performance in medical education. Med Educ. 2003;37(10):922–7.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  45. Engel A. A collaboration between theater and medicine leads to an innovative empathy program for LAC+USC staff. 2019. Available from https://hscnews.usc.edu/a-collaboration-between-art-and-medicine-leads-to-an-innovative-empathy-program.

  46. Bentwich ME, Gilbey P. More than visual literacy: art and the enhancement of tolerance for ambiguity and empathy. BMC Med Educ. 2017;17(1):200.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  47. Rosetti LN. Medicine and the art of seeing. Univ Ottawa J Med. 2016;6(1):1309.

    Google Scholar 

  48. Dolev JC, Friedlaender LK, Braverman IM. Use of fine art to enhance visual diagnostic skills. J Am Med Assoc. 2001;286:1020–1.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  49. Schaff PB, Isken S, Tager RM. From contemporary art to core clinical skills: observation, interpretation, and meaning-making in a complex environment. Acad Med. 2011;86(10):1272.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  50. Naghshineh S, Hafler JP, Miller AR, Blanco MA, Lipsitz SR, Dubroff RP, et al. Formal art observation training improves medical students’ visual diagnostic skills. J Gen Intern Med. 2008;23(7):991.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  51. Association of American Medical Colleges. The fundamental role of arts and humanities in medical education.

    Google Scholar 

  52. Fancourt D, Finn S. What is the evidence on the role of the arts in improving health and well-being? A scoping review. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2019.

    Google Scholar 

  53. Ripp J, Shanafelt TD. The health care chief wellness officer: what the role is and is not. Acad Med. 2020;95(9):1354–8.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  54. Center for the Art of Medicine.

    Google Scholar 

  55. Routhieaux RL, Tansik DA. The benefits of music in hospital waiting rooms. Health Care Superv. 1997;16(2):31–40.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  56. Cusack P, Lankston L, Isles C. Impact of visual art in patient waiting rooms: survey of patients attending a transplant clinic in Dumfries. JRSM Short Rep. 2010;1(6):52.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  57. Artistic Antidote to COVID-19. 2020. Available from https://clinicalaffairs.umn.edu/artistic-antidote.

  58. Zelenski AB, Saldivar N, Park LS, Schoenleber V, Osman F, Kraemer S. Interprofessional improv: using theater techniques to teach health professions students empathy in teams. Acad Med. 2020;95(8):1210–4.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  59. Kukora SK, Batell B, Umoren R, Gray MM, Ravi N, Thompson C, et al. Hilariously bad news: medical improv as a novel approach to teach communication skills for bad news disclosure. Acad Pediatr. 2020;20(6):879–81.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  60. Eisenberg A, Rosenthal S, Schlussel YR. Medicine as a performing art: what we can learn about empathic communication from theater arts. In: Academic medicine, vol. 90. Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams and Wilkins; 2015. p. 272–6.

    Google Scholar 

  61. van Ark AE, Wijnen-Meijer M. “Doctor Jazz”: lessons that medical professionals can learn from jazz musicians. Med Teach. 2019;41(2):201–6.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  62. Pitt MB. Magical thinking: how learning to think like a magician can make you a better pediatrician. Pediatrics. 2020;146(4):e20200420.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  63. The Arts and Medicine. JAMA. Available from https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/pages/instructions-for-authors#SecArtsMedicine.

  64. Duke NN, Gross A, Moran A, Hodsdon J, Demirel N, Osterholm E, et al. Institutional factors associated with burnout among assistant professors. Teach Learn Med. 2019;2019:1638263.

    Google Scholar 

  65. Dennhardt S, Apramian T, Lingard L, Torabi N, Arntfield S. Rethinking research in the medical humanities: a scoping review and narrative synthesis of quantitative outcome studies. Med Educ. 2016;50(3):285–99.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  66. Saffran L. What Pauline doesn’t know: using guided fiction writing to educate health professionals about cultural competence. J Med Humanit. 2018;39(3):275–83.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  67. Collett TJ, McLachlan JC. Evaluating a poetry workshop in medical education. Med Humanit. 2006;32(1):59–64.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  68. Zazulak J, Sanaee M, Frolic A, Knibb N, Tesluk E, Hughes E, et al. The art of medicine: arts-based training in observation and mindfulness for fostering the empathic response in medical residents. Med Humanit. 2017;43(3):192–8.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  69. Shaw AC, McQuade JL, Reilley MJ, Nixon B, Baile WF, Epner DE. Integrating storytelling into a communication skills teaching program for medical oncology fellows. J Cancer Educ. 2019;34(6):1198–203.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  70. Schoonover KL, Hall-Flavin D, Whitford K, Lussier M, Essary A, Lapid MI. Impact of poetry on empathy and professional burnout of health-care workers: a systematic review. J Palliat Care. 2020;35:127–32.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  71. Shapiro J, Ortiz D, Ree YY, Sarwar M. Medical students’ creative projects on a third year pediatrics clerkship: a qualitative analysis of patient-centeredness and emotional connection. BMC Med Educ. 2016;16(1):93.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Anisha Rimal .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2023 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Rimal, A., Pitt, M.B., Olson, M.E. (2023). Arts and Humanities. In: Webber, S., Babal, J., Moreno, M.A. (eds) Understanding and Cultivating Well-being for the Pediatrician. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-10843-3_14

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-10843-3_14

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-031-10842-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-031-10843-3

  • eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics