Forming an Interprofessional Health Humanities Project to Enhance the Desired Attributes of Future Health Providers

Desired attributes of a well-rounded medical provider include resilience, empathy, and sensitivity in patient communication. The Introduction of Health Humanities into Physician Assistant Education (IHAPAE) pilot study focuses on developing these attributes by introducing health humanities content into the established curriculum. This presentation discusses how IHAPAE emerged and provides an overview of the project. Our multidisciplinary collaborative team created content based on the Visual, Aural, Read/Write, and Kinesthetic sensory modalities. Students participated in eight humanities and arts-based activities. To objectively evaluate IHAPAE, we used a mixed-methods approach of standardized scales, focus groups, and performance in a simulated patient scenario for Breaking Bad News. Our study is a collaboration between the University of Nebraska Medical Center Physician Assistant Education Program and College of Nursing with University of Nebraska Omaha medical humanities faculty from the Colleges of Arts & Sciences, and Communication, Fine Arts & Media.