That is, the subjective nature of experiencing and interpreting artworks can allow for an open dialogue between individuals where they can freely share their perspectives in a supportive environment. Moreover, when we share our reflections about art with others, it strengthens our sense of community and belonging. It allows us to choose parts of our experience to guide us in the process of these transitions. Art provides an avenue to explore different facets of ourselves as we transition from one phase of our lives to the next. Engaging in artistic disciplines-writing, reading, music, the visual arts-can allow us to enter a kind of portal into the different dimensions of our life and the lives of others, real and imagined, which can in turn encourage empathy and remind us that our experiences can transform through the very act of reflection. Reflection inherently involves looking back at the past to reconcile with who we are in the present and dream about who we want to be in the future. Art served as both the substance and the spark for engaging conversations between colleagues about their professional lives as we grappled with complex questions of ethical practice, professional meaning, and individual purpose. We then shared and discussed these creations within our group and even the critical care community in Toronto. To that end, we met virtually and in-person to create works of music, creative writing, and the visual arts. The faculty’s diverse background in education, art, ethics, anthropology, and the addition of an art scholar made facilitations of the evenings easier. The groups met once to twice per month and were kept intentionally small (less than ten participants) so the meeting could remain an “open space” where the participants could be vulnerable, explore and witness experiences, and engage in reflection through art. A range of artistic media was offered to facilitate clinicians’ choices, talents, and preferences and ultimately their involvement in the program. Trainees and faculty were all invited to the program, but participation was voluntary as some clinicians might not embrace this way of expressing their inner reflections. We aimed to harness the strengths of the arts to enrich clinical practice by encouraging participants to reflect and come to terms with their professional experiences through their artistic practices. 2 During the pandemic, our team led a medical humanities curriculum in the Pediatric Critical Care Program at The Hospital for Sick Children. It includes the application of humanities, social sciences, and art to medical education and practice, 1 and promotes knowledge building, mastering skills, professional transformation, and social advocacy. The interdisciplinary field of medical humanities perfectly showcases this dance of science and art. The human spirit can propel imagination and humanistic empathy because the needs of others can drive innovation. Scientific and artistic disciplines move in tandem they share cross-functional skills and mutually inform each other’s practices and motivations. But researchers did not rely only on hard science to help humanity survive the pandemic. As the virus swept swiftly around the world, the scientific community rapidly rallied to share information and innovate collaboratively across the globe. The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed our world’s profound interconnectivity and interdependence.
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