Looking Is Not Seeing and Listening Is Not Hearing: A Replication Study With Accelerated BSN Students

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Nursing Education
• Arts in Medicine

Background:

• Perceptual aptitude, crucial for clinical observation, is challenging to teach effectively.
• Traditional pedagogy often struggles to reliably develop visual and auditory interpretation skills in healthcare students.
• The arts offer a promising avenue for enhancing these vital clinical competencies.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the impact of arts-based interventions on perceptual skills in accelerated nursing students.
• To assess the effectiveness of museum art and music training in improving observational and auscultative abilities.
• To provide evidence for integrating arts into nursing curricula to enhance clinical competence.

Main Methods:

• Replication study involving 23 accelerated bachelor of science in nursing students in their final semester.
• Utilized museum art experiences to enhance visual observational and assessment skills.
• Incorporated music training to improve auditory interpretive and auscultative skills.

Main Results:

• Nursing students demonstrated a need for improvement in both observational and auscultative skills.
• Participation in museum art activities significantly enhanced visual observational and assessment capabilities.
• Music training led to significant improvements in the interpretation of auscultative sounds.

Conclusions:

• Arts-based interventions, including visual art and music, are effective in improving critical perceptual skills for nurses.
• The findings support the incorporation of arts into nursing education to bolster diagnostic abilities.
• Enhancing perceptual aptitude through the arts can lead to more reliable and valid clinical assessments.