Students' reflections on the hidden curriculum are a rich resource for gaining a deeper understanding of how the hidden curriculum shapes medical trainees. Ultimately, medical educators may use these results to inform, revise, and humanize clinical medical education.

CIC students are at least as well as and in several ways better prepared than their peers. CIC students also demonstrate richer perspectives on the course of illness, more insight into social determinants of illness and recovery, and increased commitment to patients. These data suggest that longitudinal integrated clerkships offer students important intellectual, professional, and personal benefits.

This paper indicates that benefits of longitudinal integrated clerkship training are sustained over time across multiple domains.

Introduction We describe an educational innovation piloted by the director of education at a university art museum and a physician-educator using the museum holdings as reflective triggers for medical learners. This innovation is distinct from the emerging trend of using art to build observation skills, enhance pattern recognition, and improve diagnostic acumen. Our intervention is specifically designed to promote individual reflection, foster empathy, increase appreciation for the psychosocial context of patient experience, and create a safe haven for learners to deepen their relationships with one another. Methods Individuals randomly selected a question from a set prepared by the authors to guide a reflective exploration of the galleries. Each question was different, but all invited an emotional response—a connection between a work of art and some aspect of life or medical practice, for example, “Focus on a memorable patient, and find a work of art that person would find meaningful or powerful” or “Find an image of a person with whom you have difficulty empathizing.” The exploration ended with a shared tour of evocative objects selected by the participants. The duration of the exercise was approximately 1.5 hours and required minimal faculty preparation. Results Most of the participants rated the exercise as 5 (excellent) on a 5-point Likert scale and particularly cited the effectiveness at stimulating reflection on meaningful issues and community building. Discussion The exercise is easily reproducible in any art gallery space. The same basic format and facilitation technique opens new and different conversations depending on the composition of the group and the choice of artwork. Museum-based reflection warrants further experimentation, analysis, and dissemination.

Graduates of Harvard Medical School's Cambridge Integrated Clerkship (CIC) describe several core processes that may underlie professional identity formation (PIF): encouragement to integrate pre-professional and professional identities; support for learner autonomy in discovering meaningful roles and responsibilities; learning through caring relationships; and a curriculum and an institutional culture that make values explicit. The authors suggest that the benefits of educational integrity accrue when idealistic learners inhabit an educational model that aligns with their own core values, and when professional development occurs in the context of an institutional home that upholds these values. Medical educators should clarify and animate principles within curricula and learning environments explicitly in order to support the professional identity formation of their learners.

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