Observational Study

. 2018 May;33(5):628-634.

doi: 10.1007/s11606-017-4275-8. Epub 2018 Jan 29.

Medical Students' Exposure to the Humanities Correlates with Positive Personal Qualities and Reduced Burnout: A Multi-Institutional U.S. Survey

Affiliations

¹ Sidney Kimmel Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University, 1001 Locust Street - Suite 309C, Philadelphia, PA, 19107, USA. Salvatore.mangione@jefferson.edu.
² Tulane University School of Medicine, 1430 Tulane Ave, SL-16, New Orleans, LA, 70112, USA.
³ Department of Otolaryngology and Head and Neck Surgery, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, 203 Lothrop Street, Suite 519, Pittsburgh, PA, 15213, USA.
⁴ OHSU School of Medicine, 3181 SW Sam Jackson Park Rd, P ortland, OR, 97239, USA.
⁵ The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, 222 Richmond Street, Room G-M143, Providence, RI, 02912, USA.
⁶ Weill Cornell Internal Medicine Associates, 505 East 70th Street, Suite 4, New York, NY, 10021, USA.
⁷ Cooper Medical School of Rowan University, 401 Broadway, Camden, NJ, 08103, USA.
⁸ Office of Student Life & Engagement, Thomas Jefferson University, 1020 Locust Street, Suite 163, Philadelphia, PA, 19107, USA.
⁹ PACE Consulting Solutions, LLC, Palm Harbor, FL, 34683, USA.
¹⁰ Department of Psychology, University of South Florida, 4202 E Fowler Ave, Tampa, FL, 33620, USA.
¹¹ Department of Medicine, Tulane University School of Medicine, 1430 Tulane Ave., #8010, New Orleans, LA, 70112, USA.

PMID: 29380213
PMCID: PMC5910341
DOI: 10.1007/s11606-017-4275-8

Observational Study

Medical Students' Exposure to the Humanities Correlates with Positive Personal Qualities and Reduced Burnout: A Multi-Institutional U.S. Survey

Salvatore Mangione et al. J Gen Intern Med. 2018 May.

. 2018 May;33(5):628-634.

doi: 10.1007/s11606-017-4275-8. Epub 2018 Jan 29.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Sidney Kimmel Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University, 1001 Locust Street - Suite 309C, Philadelphia, PA, 19107, USA. Salvatore.mangione@jefferson.edu.
² Tulane University School of Medicine, 1430 Tulane Ave, SL-16, New Orleans, LA, 70112, USA.
³ Department of Otolaryngology and Head and Neck Surgery, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, 203 Lothrop Street, Suite 519, Pittsburgh, PA, 15213, USA.
⁴ OHSU School of Medicine, 3181 SW Sam Jackson Park Rd, P ortland, OR, 97239, USA.
⁵ The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, 222 Richmond Street, Room G-M143, Providence, RI, 02912, USA.
⁶ Weill Cornell Internal Medicine Associates, 505 East 70th Street, Suite 4, New York, NY, 10021, USA.
⁷ Cooper Medical School of Rowan University, 401 Broadway, Camden, NJ, 08103, USA.
⁸ Office of Student Life & Engagement, Thomas Jefferson University, 1020 Locust Street, Suite 163, Philadelphia, PA, 19107, USA.
⁹ PACE Consulting Solutions, LLC, Palm Harbor, FL, 34683, USA.
¹⁰ Department of Psychology, University of South Florida, 4202 E Fowler Ave, Tampa, FL, 33620, USA.
¹¹ Department of Medicine, Tulane University School of Medicine, 1430 Tulane Ave., #8010, New Orleans, LA, 70112, USA.

PMID: 29380213
PMCID: PMC5910341
DOI: 10.1007/s11606-017-4275-8

Abstract

Background: Literature, music, theater, and visual arts play an uncertain and limited role in medical education. One of the arguments often advanced in favor of teaching the humanities refers to their capacity to foster traits that not only improve practice, but might also reduce physician burnout-an increasing scourge in today's medicine. Yet, research remains limited.

Objective: To test the hypothesis that medical students with higher exposure to the humanities would report higher levels of positive physician qualities (e.g., wisdom, empathy, self-efficacy, emotional appraisal, spatial skills), while reporting lower levels of negative qualities that are detrimental to physician well-being (e.g., intolerance of ambiguity, physical fatigue, emotional exhaustion, and cognitive weariness).

Design: An online survey.

Participants: All students enrolled at five U.S. medical schools during the 2014-2015 academic year were invited by email to take part in our online survey.

Main measures: Students reported their exposure to the humanities (e.g., music, literature, theater, visual arts) and completed rating scales measuring selected personal qualities.

Key results: In all, 739/3107 medical students completed the survey (23.8%). Regression analyses revealed that exposure to the humanities was significantly correlated with positive personal qualities, including empathy (p < 0.001), tolerance for ambiguity (p < 0.001), wisdom (p < 0.001), emotional appraisal (p = 0.01), self-efficacy (p = 0.02), and spatial skills (p = 0.02), while it was significantly and inversely correlated with some components of burnout (p = 0.01). Thus, all hypotheses were statistically significant, with effect sizes ranging from 0.2 to 0.59.

Conclusions: This study confirms the association between exposure to the humanities and both a higher level of students' positive qualities and a lower level of adverse traits. These findings may carry implications for medical school recruitment and curriculum design. "[Science and humanities are] twin berries on one stem, grievous damage has been done to both in regarding [them]... in any other light than complemental." (William Osler, Br Med J. 1919;2:1-7).

Keywords: ambiguity; burnout; empathy; humanities; medical education; wisdom.

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Conflict of interest statement

Prior Presentations

Presented in part at the annual meeting of the Society of General Internal Medicine, Hollywood, FL, May 11–14, 2016.

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that they do not have a conflict of interest.

Comment in

Medical Schools Should Admit More Guitar Players.
Volpe RL, Green MJ. Volpe RL, et al. J Gen Intern Med. 2018 May;33(5):581-582. doi: 10.1007/s11606-018-4379-9. J Gen Intern Med. 2018. PMID: 29532301 Free PMC article. No abstract available.

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Medical Students' Exposure to the Humanities Correlates with Positive Personal Qualities and Reduced Burnout: A Multi-Institutional U.S. Survey

Affiliations

Medical Students' Exposure to the Humanities Correlates with Positive Personal Qualities and Reduced Burnout: A Multi-Institutional U.S. Survey

Authors

Affiliations

Abstract

Conflict of interest statement

Prior Presentations

Conflict of Interest

Comment in

References

Publication types

MeSH terms

LinkOut - more resources

Other Literature Sources