Literature and the Arts in Medical Education (Fam Med 2010;42(6):398-9.) From the Faculty of Health Sciences, Universi-

The arts offer media through which human nature can be observed and analyzed in different surroundings. Cinema and theater, for example, provide social, anthropological, and cultural knowledge about people in different times and environments and in this way help interpret and understand human life.1 Using a particular aesthetic to communicate the artist’s point of view, the arts may serve as tools in health educa-tion,2 preparing university students to optimize interventions for people under their care.