By Stephanie Gardner, Pharm.D., Ed.D.
Provost and Chief Strategy Officer
Quite simply, I love to read.
I read for pleasure and to learn.
I also enjoy talking about what I read and currently belong to two book clubs — including the Provost’s Book Club that I started seven years ago. That book club promotes campus collegiality as we discuss books on topics related to academic medicine and higher education — from personal and professional development, to clinical care, education and research.
Paulette and Jay Mehta have been avid participants in the Provost’s Book Club right from the start. I know we share a love of reading as well as of the arts. As a member of Team UAMS, I am grateful they have channeled their passions for the arts into the Medicine and Meaning UAMS literary journal, along with support to establish the Mehta Awards in Creative Writing on campus.
These awards speak to a belief we share: that creativity and the arts do not only nourish our spirit and entertain us. The arts also cultivate lifelong learning; and they can guide us to becoming better health care providers, teachers and scientists.
As we find more ways to integrate the arts into health professions education — whether it’s the written word, visual art or music — I believe we are equipping our learners with a powerful tool to help them form deeper connections with patients, maintain joy in medicine and develop empathy and resiliency.
The American Association of Medical Colleges (AAMC) reinforced this idea in a 2020 report calling for more arts and humanities curriculum in medicine and medical education. The report noted that so far the 21st century has seen significant technological advancement in health care delivery, marked health disparities, civil unrest, unprecedented rates of physician burnout and suicide, and public health crises from the opioid epidemic to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Knowledge of and an affinity for the arts helps a health professional interweave their scientific training with traits like emotional intelligence, critical thinking skills, an understanding of social context, and improved wellbeing. This will better prepare them to meet these challenges as effective contributors to optimal patient outcomes and healthier communities.
Last year the Provost’s Book Club read In Shock, by Dr. Rana Awdish, a physician who suffered a catastrophic medical emergency seven months into her first pregnancy that resulted in the death of her unborn child and left her fighting for her own life. She survived, but was moved to share her journey due to multiple episodes during her treatment and subsequent return to work where she experienced a shocking callousness or lack of empathy by health providers or colleagues.
She believes it is important for a health provider to acknowledge and empathize with a patient’s pain and experience. She contends that it is possible to do without depleting yourself or clouding professional judgment.
She writes: “When we allow our human channels to remain open, we better understand emotion because we’ve bravely confronted our own. Only then we can see where we are needed and the spaces we must move to fill. Only then can we help each other pass through the storm intact. Only then can we understand the value of our presence in the storm.”
When we encourage our learners to read a story like this, we introduce them to examples of the moral choices and dilemmas they may encounter as clinicians in a way that strengthens empathy and allows reflection and productive discussion. We also are encouraging them to share their own ideas and experiences, much like Dr. Awdish did, so that we all may benefit from their creativity and perspective.
Using the arts as a medium for growth, emotion and the exchange of ideas goes right to the heart of humanity and of the spirit of the Mehta awards.
Stephanie Gardner, Pharm.D., Ed.D., is the Senior Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, Provost, and Chief Strategy Officer at UAMS.