Arts & Medicine Track


Our newest track is the Arts & Medicine Track, a curriculum dedicated to investigating the intersection between arts and medicine. It is open to all residents with NO required art background!

The track has started with its inaugural class in fall 2022 consisting of 15 PGY-2 and PGY-3 residents. The goal of this track is to create novel opportunities to obtain new knowledge and skills in a low stakes environment. The three main goals of this track include:

  • Learn skills to enhance the patient-physician relationship including but not limited to: communication, observation, evaluation of implicit biases, drawing, and mindfulness
  • Create time to interact with patients on a humanistic level
  • Decrease burnout and improve wellness

There are five main track requirements include:

  • Didactic sessions: these will occur during noon conferences and early evenings about every other month. These will be led by physicians and members of the RI community. They will cover a broad range of art forms: visual arts, painting, narrative medicine, improvisation, dance, photography, and music. Each will focus on a specific skill fundamental to the patient-physician relationship and humanistic side of medicine.
  • Patient centered art sessions: while on elective style rotations, residents will have dedicated time to create art with hospitalized patients.
  • Journaling: residents will have the opportunity for self-reflection after didactic and art sessions
  • Mentor meetings: these will occur about two to three times per year to reflect on resident experiences and to discuss their scholarly project
  • Scholarly project: residents will synthesize their experiences in the form of a final project. Examples include but are not limited to publishing narrative medicine articles, developing didactic sessions, and QI projects.