"Art Class Improves Medical Students' Observation Skills" - Mary Beth Nierengarten
Interest in integrating the arts and humanities into medical education is not new. Several programs around the country offer or require medical students to take classes in the arts or humanities to help foster skills that are essential to good clinical care, including observation, critical thinking, and empathy. However, few studies have formally assessed the effect of such training on specific clinical skills. Now, a randomized controlled study published in Ophthalmology does just that. Researchers found a significant improvement in observational skills among students who underwent observation training in art compared with students who did not. "The paper is important because it demonstrates that a structured program in art observation improved first year medical students' observational skills on clinical images," said Barry S. Coller, MD, clinical professor of medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Dr. Coller teaches the Pulse of Art course at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, which is designed to improve observational skills through the study of art and history of medicine.
- Barry S. Coller, MD, Clinical Professor, Medicine, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai