Creativity in Medical Education: The Value of Having Medical Students Make Stuff

Michael J. Green, Kimberly Myers, Katie Watson, Mk Czerwiec, Dan Shapiro, Stephanie Draus

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

24 Scopus citations

Abstract

What is the value of having medical students engage in creative production as part of their learning? Creating something new requires medical students to take risks and even to fail--something they tend to be neither accustomed to nor comfortable with doing. “Making stuff” can help students prepare for such failures in a controlled environment that doesn’t threaten their professional identities. Furthermore, doing so can facilitate students becoming resilient and creative problem-solvers who strive to find new ways to address vexing questions. Though creating something new can be fun, this is not the main outcome of interest. Rather, the principle reason we recommend devoting precious curricular time to creative endeavors is because it helps medical students become better doctors.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)475-483
Number of pages9
JournalJournal of Medical Humanities
Volume37
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - Dec 1 2016

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Health(social science)
  • Health Policy

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