Visual Media Practices Reshape Diagnostic Observation and Patient Care in Medical Training Contexts
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.26740/jsm.v10n1.p296-314Keywords:
Medical Diagnosis, Visual Arts and Film Viewing, Medical Training, HumanismAbstract
In the 21st century, diagnostic care is often associated with biotechnological advancement, overlooking the importance of clinicians’ observational skills. Visual literacy—the ability to interpret and create meaning from images—is therefore a core clinical competence. Between November 2025 and January 2026, this study engaged 35 caregiving students from five private hospitals in Sapele, Delta State, focusing on the visual identification of jaundice. Using a conceptual literature review, the study integrates visual pedagogical frameworks, such as visual thinking strategies, with medical humanities curricula. It examines how visual narratives and films contribute to improved diagnostic accuracy and compassionate care. Findings suggest that structured exposure to visual arts enhances critical observation and reduces cognitive bias, while film-based learning helps clinicians recognize non-verbal cues, environmental context, and unspoken symptoms. Incorporating visual literacy into medical training improves the interpretation of patient data and supports a more humanistic approach to care. The study concludes that visual literacy should be formalized as a clinical skill, and recommends integrating film-based modules into medical curricula to bridge the gap between technical expertise and observational competence for better diagnostic and therapeutic outcomes
References
Aita, V. A., Lydiatt, W. M., & Gilbert, M. A. (2010). Portraits of care: Medical research through portraiture. Medical Humanities, 36(1), 5–13.
Aita, V., Lydiatt, W., Gilbert, M., McGraw, H., & Masuoka, M. (2009). Here I am and nowhere else: Portraits of care by Mark Gilbert at the intersection of art and medicine. Literature, Arts & Medicine Blog. Retrieved from http://medhum.med.nyu.edu/blog/?p=172
All-Party Parliamentary Group on Arts, Health and Wellbeing. (2017). Creative health: The arts for health and wellbeing (2nd ed.). Retrieved from https://www.culturehealthandwellbeing.org.uk/appg-inquiry/
Arts Council of Ireland. (2010). Arts and health: Policy and strategy 2010–2014. Retrieved from http://www.artscouncil.ie/Arts-in-Ireland/Arts-participation/Arts-and-health/
Austen, K. (2016). The art of health: Exploring creative engagement with research. Wellcome Trust. Retrieved from https://wellcome.ac.uk/sites/default/files/Art-of-Health-Mumbai-Wellcome-Oct2016.pdfAvgerinou, M. D., & Pettersson, R. (2011). Toward a cohesive theory of visual literacy.
Journal of Visual Literacy, 30(2), 1–19.
Batt-Rawden, S. A., Chisolm, M. S., Anton, B., & Flickinger, T. E. (2013). Teaching empathy to medical students: An updated, systematic review. Academic Medicine, 88(8), 1171–1177. doi:10.1097/ACM.0b013e318299f3e3
Belluz, J. (2010, November 11). Out of the hospital and into the museum. Maclean’s.
Beveridge, W. I. B. (1950). The art of scientific investigation. New York, NY: W.W. Norton and Company.
Bleakley, A. (2015). Medical humanities and medical education: How the medical humanities can shape curricula. London, England: Routledge.
Bourne, R. G. (2000). Did Rembrandt's Bathsheba really have breast cancer? Australian and New Zealand Journal of Surgery, 70(3), 231–232.
Boyce, M., Bungay, H., Munn-Giddings, C., & Wilson, C. (2017). The impact of the arts in healthcare on patients and service users: A critical review. Health and Social Care in the Community, 26(1), e10–e58.
Braithwaite, P. A., & Shugg, D. (1983). Rembrandt's Bathsheba: The dark shadow of the left breast. Annals of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, 65(5), 337–338.
Bramstedt, K. A. (2016). Images of healing and learning: The use of visual arts as a window to diagnosing medical pathologies. AMA Journal of Ethics, 18(8), 843–854.
Branch, W. T., Jr. (2000). Supporting the moral development of medical students. Journal of General Internal Medicine, 15(7), 503–505.
Cohen, J. J. (1999). Our compact with tomorrow's doctors. Academic Medicine, 74(8), 875–880.
Creeden, J. (n.d.). The arts of medicine. Retrieved from https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/handle/2027.42/107709/jcreeden.pdf
Darbyshire, D., & Baker, P. (2012). A systematic review and thematic analysis of cinema in medical education. Medical Humanities, 38(1), 28–33. doi:10.1136/medhum-2011-010026
Davies, C., Pescud, M., Anwar-McHenry, J., & Wright, P. (2016). Arts, public health and the National Arts and Health Framework: A lexicon for health professionals. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, 40(4), 304–306. doi:10.1111/1753-6405.12545
Gardner, J. (1987). On moral fiction. New York, NY: Basic Books.
Ge, S. M. (2013). Observation: The importance of art in medicine. Osler Library Board of Curators Essay Contest, McGill University, Montreal, Canada.
GlobalRPH. (2026). The decline of physical examination skills in internal medicine: An existential threat? GlobalRPH Internal Medicine Review. Retrieved from https://globalrph.com/2026/01/the-decline-of-physical-examination-skills-in-internal-medicine-an-existential-threat/
Himmelstein, M. S., & Sanchez, D. T. (2016). Masculinity in the doctor’s office: Masculinity, gendered doctor preference and doctor-patient communication. Preventive Medicine, 84, 34–40.
Irwin, K. (2014). Patient deception of doctors: Industry view. Retrieved from http://www.softwareadvice.com/medical/industryview/patient-deceptionreport-2014/
Kadivar, M., Mafinejad, M. K., Bazzaz, J. T., Mirzazadeh, A., & Jannat, Z. (2018). Cinemedicine: Using movies to improve students' understanding of psychosocial aspects of medicine. Annals of Medicine and Surgery, 28, 23–27.
Kakungulu, S. J. (2024). The evolution of art in medical education throughout history. Eurasian Experiment Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences (EEJHSS), 5(3), 71–75.
Kirklin, D., Meakin, R., Singh, S., & Lloyd, M. (2000). Living with and dying from cancer: A humanities special study module. Medical Humanities, 26(1), 51–54.
Kumagai, A. K. (2012). Perspective: Acts of interpretation: A photographic approach to using creative arts in medical education. Academic Medicine, 87(8), 1138–1144.
Lumlertgul, N., Kijpaisalratana, N., Pityaratstian, N., & Wangsaturaka, D. (2009). Cinemeducation: A touch of movies to medical admissions. Medical Teacher, 31(7), 671–673.
McCabe, C., Roche, D., Hegarty, F., & McCann, S. (2013). ‘Open Window’: A randomized trial of the effect of new media art using a virtual window on quality of life in patients experiencing stem cell transplantation. Psycho-Oncology, 22(2), 330–337. doi:10.1002/pon.2093
McCabe, C., Teahan, A., Grehan, M., & Roche, D. (2020). An assessment of the scope and nature of arts and health practice in Ireland. Public Health Panorama, 6(1), 166–175.
Naghshineh, S., Hafler, J. P., Miller, A. R., Blanco, M. A., Lipsitz, S. R., Dubroff, R. P., ... Katz, J. T. (2008). Formal art observation training improves medical students’ visual diagnostic skills. Journal of General Internal Medicine, 23(7), 991–997.
Newell, G. C., & Hanes, D. J. (2003). Listening to music: The case for its use in teaching medical humanism. Academic Medicine, 78(7), 714–719.
Pauker, S. G., Barton, J. L., & Shovlin, M. (2018). Cultivating the clinician’s eye: A visual thinking strategies (VTS) workshop for medical students. MedEdPORTAL, 14, 10777. doi:10.15766/mep_2374-8265.10777
Pickering, G. W. (1956). The purpose of medical education. British Medical Journal, 2(4985), 113–116.
Reilly, J. M., Ring, J., & Duke, L. (2005). Visual thinking strategies: A new role for art in medical education. Family Medicine, 37(4), 250–252.
Rosenbaum, M. E., Ferguson, K. J., & Herwaldt, L. A. (2005). In their own words: Presenting the patient’s perspective using research-based theatre. Medical Education, 39(6), 622–631.
Sancho-Cantus, D., Cubero-Plazas, L., Botella Navas, M., Castellano-Rioja, E., & Cañabate Ros, M. (2023). Importance of soft skills in health sciences students and their repercussion after the COVID-19 epidemic: Scoping review. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 20(6), 4901. doi:10.3390/ijerph20064901
Scott, A. (2000). The relationship between the arts and medicine. Medical Humanities, 26(1), 3–8.
Shapiro, J., & Rucker, L. (2003). Can poetry make better doctors? Teaching the humanities and arts to medical students and residents at the University of California, Irvine, College of Medicine. Academic Medicine, 78(10), 953–957.
Shapiro, J., Rucker, L., & Beck, J. (2006). Training the clinical eye and mind: Using the arts to develop medical students’ observational and pattern recognition skills. Medical Education, 40(3), 263–268.
Southgate, T. (1994). Quoted in R. S. Downie (Ed.), The healing arts. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press.
Swick, H. M. (2007). Viewpoint: Professionalism and humanism beyond the academic health center. Academic Medicine, 82(11), 1022–1028.
Verghese, A. (2011, September). Abraham Verghese: A doctor's touch [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.ted.com/talks/abraham_verghese_a_doctor_s_touch
Woolliscroft, J. O., & Phillips, R. (2003). Medicine as a performing art: A worthy metaphor.
Medical Education, 37(10), 934–939.
World Health Organization (WHO). (2019). What is the evidence on the role of the arts in improving health and well-being? A scoping review. Copenhagen, Denmark: WHO Regional Office for Europe. Retrieved from https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/329834/9789289054553-eng.pdf
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 The Journal of Society and Media
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Abstract views: 9
,
PDF Downloads: 14
