Move it outside: Fostering community relationships through discussions at public art installations

Most of our medical students are neither from, nor live in, the city we serve. They spend limited time in neighborhoods and among neighbors, instead forming relationships with community members in the inherently hierarchical clinical setting. Physical and symbolic barriers risk reinforcing these existing hierarchies and deepening divides between patients and providers. In partnership with community members, we co-designed a novel 6-session course for preclinical medical students. Class sessions took place at sites of public art throughout Camden and utilized Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS) to facilitate discussion among students and community members. Students and community members appreciated the opportunity to connect . Students found the course highly useful and expressed a better understanding of, and curiosity about, Camden. Students also enjoyed the opportunity to be outdoors and explore the neighborhood beyond the medical campus. While our intervention concentrated on public art in Camden, the framework is universal and can be applied at any institution to create an education experience outside the bounds of the medical establishment. We will conduct formal qualitative analysis of survey data and focus groups to evaluate the educational impact over time and assess if this intervention shifts students' perceptions of our community and its residents.