A Trip to the Harvard Art Museums
A few weeks ago, second-year medical students visited the Harvard Art Museum for an afternoon of art, group poetry, and self-reflection. I had the opportunity to lead a group of students through these activities, and as a second-year student myself, I found myself reflecting on the afternoon from the perspective of a facilitator and a peer.
As we looked at Vincent Van Gogh’s Three Pairs of Shoes, I thought about the parallels between the visual thinking strategies (VTS) we were using and the interview and patient communication skills we learned earlier in the year. When I asked the standard VTS questions — “What is going on in this work?”, “What do you see that makes you say that?” and “What more can we find?” — I remembered the numerous instances in which my preceptors stressed the importance of open-ended questions to hear more of a patient’s thoughts. When I paraphrased each observation my group made of the painting, I recalled the usefulness of paraphrasing a patient’s remarks to ensure we were on the same page, or of paraphrasing information within a clinical team to practice closed-loop communication. When I asked what more we could find, I thought about leaving room for additional interpretations, trying not to prematurely home in on one diagnosis and being mindful of cognitive biases such as anchoring bias.
The variety of observations we had about the painting in front of us amazed me. From the placement of the shoes to the condition of the shoes, to who might have worn the shoes and what their state of mind might have been — I left feeling like I had a sharper awareness of all the details depicted in Three Pairs of Shoes. We created numerous theories to explain the composition of the painting, and even though we didn’t know any answers, I appreciated the great opportunity to observe, communicate, and work together as a team.
I was further reminded of the diversity of our perspectives when each of us had to pick a work of art that resonated with our experiences in medical school. Selections ranged from landscapes to portraits, from paintings to prints. Two people picked a print of a labyrinth, Huayuan Zhengmian (Labyrinth), but had contrasting responses to the piece. One had immediately tried to figure out the path through the maze, while the other had first taken in the whole scene. They related their different responses to different strategies for approaching medical issues — focusing on the details of a patient’s chief concerns or focusing on the patient more holistically. Reflecting on that discussion, Huayuan Zhengmian has now become a symbol for me that stands for the various frameworks we utilize to help take care of our patients.
In our group poetry session, a common theme was that medical training was a long journey full of personal growth and ripe for reflection. Our discussion emphasized to me the important role our clerkship year played in that personal growth, as well as the relevance of the skills we practiced in the Harvard Art Museums. I enjoyed the opportunity to spend an afternoon outside of the classroom with my peers, appreciating art and connecting what we saw to aspects of medicine that we will continue to learn more about in the upcoming months and years. As we start clerkships, I aim to approach each day with open curiosity and a collaborative spirit, to learn more about how clinicians formulate diagnoses and plans from what they see when they visit patients. And I hope to observe and introspect to uncover the elements of each specialty that spark my interest, to look for what more I can find.
by Truelian Lee, HMS student