Harvard Implements Arts Education in Medical School

"Harvard Medical School" by Nathan Forget licensed under CC BY 2.0
Harvard Medical School” by Nathan Forget licensed under CC BY 2.0

Source: Boston Globe

Joining the ranks of other top medical schools in the United States, Harvard is implementing arts education initiatives, including drama, dance, and literature, to foster more empathetic and reflective medical professionals. Medical school calls to mind images of lab coats, stethoscopes, and dissections, but students are now likewise analyzing paintings and performing dramatic plays about medical experiences.

These programs have yielded positive results- a third-year medical student at Harvard found that participating in a play about cancer helped her empathize with a patient diagnosed with cancer on one of her clinical rotations. Medical programs at Yale, Columbia, and Penn have successfully integrated arts and humanities courses into their curricula, from optional narrative medicine courses to required fiction writing and visual arts classes.

Read full story at: Boston Globe

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