Do you see what i see? The role of visual arts in health care education

Abstract

The universality of visual arts can be used to facilitate inventive and interdisciplinary approaches to open the lines of communication between learners, educators, and health care providers to improve patient outcomes. Arts-based training programs have been implemented successfully in higher education as part of a growing awareness of the need to develop interpersonal skills of health care professionals to be able to deliver respectful and compassionate patient care. Visual thinking strategies (VTS) is a student-centered methodology using facilitated art-based discussions to create inclusive discussions. VTS-based programs may be successfully developed for continuing multidisciplinary education of health care professionals with the goals of improving communication and team building.