The Arts: An Overlooked Prescription to Enhance Human Connection

Art is the creation of forms symbolic of human feeling.—Susanne Langer The arts—music, poetry, literature, theater, dance, painting, sculpture, and other visual media—are all forms of human expression that prompt reflection and evoke emotion. I am convinced that the arts are not merely “extras.” They are integral to our humanness and happiness. A recent New York Times article called the arts the “fifth pillar of health.” [2] We need the arts to fortify us in hard times. Just as importantly, the arts help us see our patients not just as a collection of disease states and lab results, but as complex individuals with aspirations, challenges, and fears [3, 4]. I make art when I can't gather the words to say.—Nikki Rowe Most medical schools have medical humanities programs, and some have departments dedicated to teaching and exploring the arts as a means to enhance our capacity for empathic understanding [4, 6]. By engaging with the arts, health professionals become more attuned to what patients are experiencing and communicating, even when it is not explicitly stated [7]. Programs like “Training the Eye” at Harvard Medical School use visual arts to improve physical diagnosis by teaching students to make “careful looking” a habit [8]. The integration of art and science is an essential element of medical school curricula. The AAMC's “Prism Model” identifies four key functions of the arts and humanities in health education: mastering skills, perspective-taking, personal insight, and social advocacy [9]. Art opens the closets, airs out the cellars and attics. It brings healing.—Julia Cameron Beyond its utility for patients, the arts and creative expression are essential tools for health professionals to enhance their own well-being and resilience [10, 11]. By engaging with their feelings through artistic outlets, clinicians can become more attuned to their own inner strengths and struggles, which supports emotional growth [12]. Engaging with various art forms reduces apathy and burnout by restoring a sense of meaning and joy. The emotional toll of caring for patients is high. The first decades of the 21st century have brought unprecedented rates of clinician burnout and suicide [13]. The arts offer an effective countermeasure. Engaging with the humanities can support renewal, restore meaning, and help clinicians and learners navigate the inherent paradoxes of modern healthcare. Research indicates that medical students' exposure to the humanities correlates with higher levels of empathy and lower levels of burnout [12]. By fostering personal insight, the arts help health professionals stay connected with their own feelings, thereby improving resilience. Programs like “Literature and Medicine” at Georgetown University use monthly discussions of contemporary fiction to enhance well-being [14]. Similarly, Medical Improv—using theatrical techniques—helps clinicians develop cognitive flexibility and emotional honesty, which are crucial for navigating the “messiness” and uncertainty of patient care in the real world [15]. Incorporating the arts into your life can have significant benefits. The arts can enhance your skills as a clinician and restore you after a hard day. On the way to work in the morning, my motivation and emotional state are shaped by the music I choose—like the energy and uplifting beat of Daybreaker's “Open Your Eyes”. I regularly recite Mary Oliver's poetry in my lectures and presentations. I love live theater—it's not merely entertainment. Art is built on the deepest themes of human meaning: good and evil, beauty and ugliness, life and death, love and hate.—John Ortberg The arts can teach us things that studying the biomedical sciences cannot [16]. Unfortunately, the arts are underappreciated and underdeveloped in pharmacy education, often relegated to stand-alone electives in entry-level degree programs, if they exist at all. Rarer still is any thoughtful inclusion of the arts in residency and fellowship programs. I argue that the arts should be embedded and woven into their fabric. We can see the power of this integration in programs like “My Life, My Story” at Veterans Affairs medical centers, where trainees interview veterans and craft their life stories into the electronic medical record [17]. This simple act of storytelling brings the patient's personhood to the forefront of their care. Alternatively, assigning a film like “Wit” (2001) as a case study can provide a “window into another person's life,” shifting students' perspectives on the experience of illness and on relationships with patients [18]. Poetry prescriptions can provide an outlet for students and residents to make sense of their frustrations, express their thoughts and feelings, and grapple with failure and loss [19]. Music can enhance learner motivation and promote empathy [20]. At its core, clinical pharmacy is about caring for people, not drugs. Effective practice melds artistry and creativity alongside scientific knowledge and therapeutic know-how. So, crank up the music, learn how to salsa, watch The Pitt (HBO Max) [21], and read more fiction. By embracing the arts, we don't just become better at addressing drug-related problems; we become more attuned to our emotions and more connected with the human beings we serve. Google Gemini was used to identify studies and newspaper articles relevant to the concepts discussed in this editorial. Grammarly was used to assist with sentence construction and provide feedback on wording. Stuart T Haines is Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of the American College of Clinical Pharmacy.