Back to 2014 Annual Meeting Posters

BACKGROUND: Plastic Surgery exemplifies the marriage of the art and science in medicine. Plastic surgery not only requires a sound understanding of surgical principles, but also a keen artistic eye. Artistry is a skill that can be developed if appropriately fostered. Surgical residency education is often times rushed, regimented and service oriented. This type of educational environment can be stifling to creativity, especially in today’s world of “educational objectives.” Much like investigative pursuits, creative skills tend to develop better in a less hectic environment. To this end, UMass Plastic Surgery has established an annual artistic curriculum for its residency and presents some early outcome metrics.
METHODS: A team of Plastic Surgeons from UMass and art instructors from Worcester Art Museum collaboratively developed an art education curriculum to help residents further explore and expand upon their artistic abilities as well as develop a more discerning eye for the human shape. A five-week course was initiated during the 2012-2013 academic year and has been repeated this academic cycle. The classes included three weeks of drawing and two weeks of sculpting. The same instructor taught all classes and included instruction in both face and figure. Pre and post-course self assessments of participants artistic ability on a scale from 1-10 (1 poor, 10 professional) as well as attitudes toward art education were used as points of evaluation. Participants also completed a 10-minute pre-course drawing of a statue which was then repeated at the end of the course. All drawings were randomized and blinded to an independent evaluator who graded the drawings using a standardized rubric. A score of 1-3 was given across six standards for a range of 6-18. Grading for this year’s class is ongoing and will be available at the time of presentation.
RESULTS: Five of the initial 10 residents completed both pre and post surveys as well as pre and post course drawings. Average attendance for all participants was 3.5 (range 2-5). Pre-course self-assessment scores ranged from 1 to 6 (Average 3.3) and post course self-assessment scores ranged from 1 to 6 (Average 4.4). The average change in self-assessment was 1.1 (Range -1 to +4). Professional assessments of the pre-course standardized drawing ranged from 6 to 8 (average 6.5) and the post-course assessment ranged from 6 to 11 (average 8.2). The average change in professional assessment was +2 (Range +2 to +5). Evaluation of the residents’ attitudes toward art education indicates that formal education in art will likely enhance the learner’s understanding of the human form and how it is represented in art, culture and society.
DISCUSSION: Sporadic art education for plastic surgeons has been relatively common at regional and national meetings; however, a longitudinal content driven art education curriculum has not been fully integrated into resident education to our knowledge. While the data is preliminary, we have found that a short course that is curriculum driven can improve artistic abilities. Determining the value of an art education for a plastic surgeon is difficult but this early works supports continued engagement.