Le Medical Humanities per la formazione degli studenti di Medicina. Le arti visive per lo sviluppo di skills.

Introduction. Medical Humanities have been introduced in the field of medical and health education for some years to encourage the development of skills, improve the relationship with the patient and to limit stress. Even the University of L'Aquila, with a project started in 2020, has introduced some training modules using the visual arts and in particular the method of Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS). The master's degree course in Medicine and Surgery was involved, as well as that of Cultural Heritage. Methods.The VTS module was delivered as an Optional Educational Activity (AFO) through four laboratory meetings of 90 minutes each and introduced by some Lessons on Art and Medicine. Pre and post tests were administered, using a validated grid, to evaluate the impact of the methodology on the development of skills. Results. All participating students increased their score from pre to post test, demonstrating the improvement of observation skills, problem solving, critical thinking, linguistic expression. The same test was administered to a control cohort whose results were not as positive, demonstrating that students who did not attend such activities in the same period did not develop the useful skills. Conclusions. The introduction of these activities and, in particular, the Visual Thinking Strategies has demonstrated that the arts-based learning activities represent an effective methodology to increase the professional skills of students in the medical and healthcare area, therefore they should be added to the curricula.