Finding their Voice: A Visual Arts Program for Nurse Residents
On a snowy evening in April 2024, nineteen nursing residents and their department leadership walked from Brigham & Women’s Hospital down the street to the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. The nurses were starting a new program developed by Mary Anne Kenyon, Professional Development Manager, Center for Nursing Excellence, Brigham & Women’s Hospital. Nora McDonough Nurse Residency Program, Director, Barbara Reville, DNP, NP at BWH and Dana Farber Cancer Institute (retired), and Brooke DiGiovanni Evans, Director of the Visual Arts in Healthcare Program at BWH. The goals of the program are to:
Enhance relational capacities in the workplace by focusing on interpersonal and communication skills with colleagues, patients, and families.
Foster reflection on struggles with professional identity, confidence, and leadership during the residency year.
Engage in teambuilding and community building opportunities through creative activities.
Explore professional identity and the added value of the nursing voice in team-based practice.
Expand a curiosity mindset.
Nurse introductions and welcome, MFA, Boston
Over the course of two and a half hours the nurse residents participated in three small group activities in the museum’s galleries. Many of the nurses were unsure what to expect, but responses after the workshop ended were overwhelmingly positive. When asked “how do you believe this program may impact your work going forward?”some quotes included:
“To look at big picture and ask what other people's thoughts and perspectives are because they may bring up points you have not considered.”
“I think this will help me to stop and think about how I communicate with my coworkers in the workplace.”
“I think it will help with my patience, my open mindedness, my patient communication.”
Visual Thinking Strategies discussion, MFA, Boston
This program is ongoing and so far, we’ve had over 100 nurse residents participate. In February 2025, we expanded the program to include a pilot that teamed up the nurse residents with Harvard Medical School students to learn together in the galleries with the goal of teamwork and creating interdisciplinary connections early in the training for both these professions. When asked what their take-away was from this new interdisciplinary teambuilding program, one participant stated:
Back to Back Drawing in Southeast Asian Gallery, MFA, Boston
“Everyone has a different perspective and things that they are attuned to notice or focus on. That's the beauty of working together! Together, we are so much more powerful and knowledgeable than any one individual.”
Hear more about these arts in healthcare workshop with nurse residents in an interview with Andrew Kwok and nursing leader, Mary Anne Kenyon, who helped to make this program possible for her learners.
By
Brooke DiGiovanni Evans, Director, Visual Arts in Healthcare Program at BWH
Mary Anne Kenyon, Professional Development Manager, Center for Nursing Excellence, Brigham & Women’s Hospital. Nora McDonough Nurse Residency Program, Director
Andrew Kwok, HMS Graduate Student