Interest in integrating the arts and humanities into medical education is blossoming. Programs around the country either offer or require medical students to take classes in the arts or humanities in the hope that they will foster skills that are essential to good clinical care, including observational skills, critical thinking, and empathy.
To date, however, few studies have formally assessed the effect of such training on specific clinical skills.
Now a small randomized controlled trial published in Ophthalmology has done just that. Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine in Philadelphia found a significant improvement in observational skills among students who underwent formal observation training in art compared with students who did not.
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Cite this: Should Art Classes Be Offered in Medical School? - Medscape - Mar 07, 2018.
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