Using photography to enhance GP trainees’ reflective practice and professional development

Abstract

The capacity and the commitment to reflect are integral to the practice of medicine and are core components of most general practitioners (GP) training programmes. Teaching through the humanities is a growing area within medical education, but one which is often considered a voluntary 'add-on' for the interested doctor. This article describes an evaluation of a highly innovative pedagogical project which used photography as a means to enhance GP trainees' reflective capacity, self-awareness and professional development. Photography was used as a tool to develop GP trainees' skills in recognising and articulating the attitudes, feelings and values that might impact on their clinical work and to enhance their confidence in their ability to deal with these concerns/issues. We submit that photography is uniquely well suited for facilitating insight and self-reflection because it provides the ability to record 'at the touch of a button' those scenes and images to which our attention is intuitively drawn without the need for-or the interference of-conscious decisions. This allows us the opportunity to reflect later on the reasons for our intuitive attraction to these scenes. These photography workshops were a compulsory part of the GP training programme and, despite the participants' traditional scientific backgrounds, the results clearly demonstrate the willingness of participants to accept-even embrace-the use of art as a tool for learning. The GP trainees who took part in this project acknowledged it to be beneficial for both their personal and professional development.

The Informal Curriculum of Family Medicine – what does it entail and how is it taught to residents? A systematic review.

“…Notably, there were also several creative and maybe less traditional methods used, such as reflecting on clips from the TV-show "Grey's Anatomy" to improve professional behavior (52), using photography as a means to self-reflection (51), and discussing poetry in order to gain insight into other cultures (47).…”

“…One of the studies used mixed methods, where a qualitative analysis of reflective texts and photos taken by residents were combined with a questionnaire (51). Although a small study and thus difficult to draw any conclusions from, the innovative approach of using art as a tool for reflection was valued by the participants (51).…”

“…Of the interventions included, six took place in the U.S. (44-46, 48, 50, 52), two in the U.K. (49,51), two in Canada (17,53), and one in Australia (47). The number of participants were reported for all the studies and ranged from 4 to 1467, with the mean number being 171 and the median 18.…”

“…Various educational settings were used; small-group settings (47,(49)(50)(51)(52)(53) and a combination of clinical immersive settings with small-group and/or classroom settings (44,46,48) were the most common.…”

“…Expected learning outcomes were in most of the studies mentioned briefly or in general terms (17,46,47,52) and only a few studies stated them in further detail (48,49). Overall, five studies dealt with topics of medical professionalism (17,(50)(51)(52)(53), five studies were aimed at increasing cultural competence (45)(46)(47)(48)(49) and one study dealt with improving tolerance of uncertainty (44). One study on cultural competence focused on treating patients with diabetes type 2 (45), while the other four (46-49) had a wider approach, not focusing on any specific disease.…”