Introduction The arts and humanities have transformative potential for medical education. Realizing this potential requires an understanding of what arts and humanities teaching is and what it aims to do. A 2016 review of exclusively quantitative studies mapped three discursive positions (art as intrinsic to, additive to or curative for medicine) and three epistemic functions (art for mastering skills, perspective taking, and personal growth and activism). A more inclusive sample might offer new insights into the position and function of arts and humanities teaching in medical education. Methods Informed by this 2016 framework, we conducted discursive and conceptual analyses of 769 citations from a database created in a recent scoping review. We also analyzed the 15 stakeholder interviews from this review for recurring themes. These three analyses were iteratively compared and combined to produce a model representing the complex relationship among discursive functions and learning domains. Results The literature largely positioned arts and humanities as additive to medicine and focused on the functions of mastering skills and perspective taking. Stakeholders emphasized the intrinsic value of arts and humanities and advocated their utility for social critique and change. We offer a refined theory of practice—the Prism Model of four functions (mastering skills, perspective taking, personal insight and social advocacy)—to support more strategic use of arts and humanities in medical education across all learning domains. Discussion The Prism Model encourages greater pedagogical flexibility and critical reflection in arts and humanities teaching, offering a foundation for achieving its transformative potential.

Objectives: The objectives of this scoping review are to: (1) identify the distribution of and context of the recruitment strategies used, (2) explore the facilitators, benefits, barriers and ethical issues of the identified recruitment strategies, (3) distinguish the varying terminology for involvement (ie, panels, boards, individual) and (4) determine if the individual recruitment strategies used were to address issues of representation or bias. Design: A scoping review. Setting: This scoping review follows the framework by Peters et al. Seven electronic databases were explored including Scopus, Medline, PubMed, Web of Science, CINAHL, Cochrane Library and PsycINFO (conducted July 2021). The search strategy was codeveloped among the research team, PPI research experts and a faculty librarian. Two independent reviewers screened articles by title and abstract and then at full text based on predetermined criteria. Primary and secondary outcome measures: Explore recruitment strategies used, facilitators, benefits, barriers and ethical issues of the identified recruitment strategies. Identify terminology for involvement. Explore recruitment strategies used to address issues of representation or bias. Results: The final sample was from 51 sources. A large portion of the extracted empirical literature had a clinical focus (37%, n=13) but was not a randomised control trial. The most common recruitment strategies used were human networks (78%, n=40), such as word of mouth, foundation affiliation, existing networks, clinics or personal contacts. Within the reviewed literature, there was a lack of discussion pertaining to facilitators, benefits, barriers and ethical considerations of recruitment strategies was apparent. Finally, 41% (n=21) of studies employed or proposed recruitment strategies or considerations to address issues of representation or bias. Conclusion: We conclude with four key recommendations that researchers can use to better understand appropriate routes to meaningfully involve patients, carers and members of the public to cocreate the evidence informing their care.

Coping with loss is an unfortunate reality faced by healthcare professionals, and the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated this challenge for those who worked on the frontlines. Our scoping review aimed to comprehensively map the existing literature pertaining to the experiences of grief among nurses and physicians in the context of the pandemic. Six bibliographic databases were searched in 2022, and a targeted search of gray literature and citation chasing was also performed. After screening a total of 2920 records, we included 173 evidence sources in this review. Data was both analyzed descriptively (e.g., frequency counts and percentages) and using a qualitative content analysis approach. Our findings illuminate the myriad losses experienced by nurses and physicians throughout the pandemic. While the literature portrays the coping mechanisms healthcare professionals have developed personally, there is a pronounced need for increased institutional support to alleviate the burdens they carry.

Background: Addressing the Truth and Reconciliation Calls to Action on including anti-racism and cultural competency education is acknowledged within many health professional programs. However, little is known about the effects of a course related to Indigenous Peoples and colonialism on learners’ beliefs about the causes of inequities and intergroup attitudes.Methods: A total of 335 learners across three course cohorts (in 2019, 2020, 2022) of health professional programs (e.g., Dentistry/Dental Hygiene, Medicine, Nursing, and Pharmacy) at a Canadian university completed a survey prior to and 3 months following an educational intervention. The survey assessed gender, age, cultural identity, political ideology, and health professional program along with learners’ causal beliefs, blaming attitudes, support for social action and perceived professional responsibility to address inequities. Pre-post changes were assessed using mixed measures (Cohort x Time of measurement) analyses of variance, and demographic predictors of change were determined using multiple regression analyses. Pearson correlations were conducted to assess the relationship between the main outcome variables.Results: Only one cohort of learners reported change following the intervention, indicating greater awareness of the effects of historical aspects of colonialism on Indigenous Peoples inequities, but unexpectedly, expressed stronger blaming attitudes and less support for government social action and policy at the end of the course. When controlling for demographic variables, the strongest predictors of blaming attitudes towards Indigenous Peoples and lower support for government action were gender and health professional program. There was a negative correlation between historical factors and blaming attitudes suggesting that learners who were less willing to recognize the role of historical factors on health inequities were more likely to express blaming attitudes. Further, stronger support for government action or policies to address such inequities was associated with greater recognition of the causal effects of historical factors, and learners were less likely to express blaming attitudes.Conclusion: The findings with respect to blaming attitudes and lower support for government social action and policies suggested that educational interventions can have unexpected negative effects. As such, implementation of content to address the Truth and Reconciliation Commissions Calls to Action should be accompanied by rigorous research and evaluation that explore how attitudes are transformed across the health professional education journey to monitor intended and unintended effects.