Arts-based learning in medical education: the students' perspective.

Arts subjects are often included in medical school curricula to facilitate the exploration of non-scientific elements of medicine, such as communication, social, political, emotional and spiritual issues. However, little research has reported on students' experience of arts teaching. Performing Medicine is a programme created by the Clod Ensemble theatre company in collaboration with Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry, and the Department of Drama at Queen Mary University, London. Professional artists run a range of workshops exploring issues relating to health care and work to develop students' professional skills in self-presentation, observation, communication, self-care and their understanding of difference. This article presents an analysis of student-written material about Performing Medicine.