{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,19]],"date-time":"2026-03-19T21:36:46Z","timestamp":1773956206290,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":28,"publisher":"BMJ","content-domain":{"domain":["bmj.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Med Humanities"],"accepted":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,2]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>As medical education increasingly prioritises standardisation and algorithmic decision-making, the qualities that define the \u2018art\u2019 of medicine\u2014improvisation, narrative attunement and observational depth\u2014are often marginalised as non-essential \u2018soft skills\u2019. This paper challenges that marginalisation by arguing that creativity is not merely an artistic flourish, but a pragmatic, core clinical competency essential for navigating the complex, indeterminate realities of modern patient care.<\/jats:p>\n                  <jats:p>Drawing on the educational theory of Donald Sch\u00f6n and the historical context of the Oslerian tradition, this article redefines creativity as an integrative meta-competency that encompasses and humanistically grounds a number of vitally important cognitive processes. It illustrates how the integration of the humanities into medical education cultivates the specific cognitive flexibility required for superior clinical reasoning, empathetic communication and resilience against burn-out.<\/jats:p>\n                  <jats:p>This manuscript is particularly relevant to the current landscape of medical humanities and medical education as it moves beyond the argument of humanities as \u2018enrichment\u2019. Instead, it posits that in an era of digital dissociation and the rise of artificial intelligence, the uniquely human capacity for creative, moral imagination is the physician\u2019s most vital tool. By creating a direct link between humanities education and clinical outcomes\u2014such as diagnostic accuracy and therapeutic alliance\u2014this paper offers a robust framework for embedding these disciplines into the core of medical training.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1136\/medhum-2025-013795","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,19]],"date-time":"2026-03-19T17:20:20Z","timestamp":1773940820000},"page":"medhum-2025-013795","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1136\/crossmarkpolicy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Creativity as a core competency in medical education: the art of medicine"],"prefix":"10.1136","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0006-9008-1810","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Josh","family":"Bandopadhay","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"University of Texas John P and Katherine G McGovern Medical School, Houston, Texas, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"239","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,19]]},"reference":[{"key":"2026031910201170000_medhum-2025-013795v1.1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1136\/bmjopen-2022-065333"},{"key":"2026031910201170000_medhum-2025-013795v1.2","unstructured":"Sch\u00f6n DA . The reflective practitioner: How professionals think in action. New York (NY): Basic Books, 1983."},{"key":"2026031910201170000_medhum-2025-013795v1.3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"803","DOI":"10.1080\/0142159X.2018.1484898","article-title":"Adaptive expertise in medical decision making","volume":"40","author":"Croskerry","year":"2018","journal-title":"Med Teach"},{"key":"2026031910201170000_medhum-2025-013795v1.4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1265","DOI":"10.1007\/s10459-022-10178-8","article-title":"Combining adaptive expertise and (critically) reflective practice to support the development of knowledge, skill, and society","volume":"27","author":"Ng","year":"2022","journal-title":"Adv Health Sci Educ Theory Pract"},{"key":"2026031910201170000_medhum-2025-013795v1.5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1111\/medu.70123","article-title":"How postgraduate medical trainees conceptualise management reasoning: A qualitative study","author":"Parsons","year":"2025","journal-title":"Med Educ"},{"key":"2026031910201170000_medhum-2025-013795v1.6","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1634\/theoncologist.5-4-302"},{"key":"2026031910201170000_medhum-2025-013795v1.7","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"40","DOI":"10.1097\/ACM.0000000000001312","article-title":"Doctors as Makers","volume":"92","author":"Baruch","year":"2017","journal-title":"Acad Med"},{"key":"2026031910201170000_medhum-2025-013795v1.8","unstructured":"Totelin L . Hippocratic corpus. Oxford classical dictionary. 2021."},{"key":"2026031910201170000_medhum-2025-013795v1.9","unstructured":"Osler W . The principles and practice of medicine. New York (NY): D. Appleton and Company, 1892."},{"key":"2026031910201170000_medhum-2025-013795v1.10","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Flexner A . Medical education in the United States and Canada. Washington (DC): Science and Health Publications, 1910.","DOI":"10.1126\/science.32.810.41"},{"key":"2026031910201170000_medhum-2025-013795v1.11","first-page":"269","article-title":"The Flexner Report--100 years later","volume":"84","author":"Duffy","year":"2011","journal-title":"Yale J Biol Med"},{"key":"2026031910201170000_medhum-2025-013795v1.12","unstructured":"Verghese A . Culture, critical thinking, and the physician\u2019s hand. Keynote address: Stanford University School of Medicine, 2008."},{"key":"2026031910201170000_medhum-2025-013795v1.13","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Charon R . Narrative medicine: honoring the stories of illness. Oxford (UK): Oxford University Press, 2006.","DOI":"10.1093\/oso\/9780195166750.001.0001"},{"key":"2026031910201170000_medhum-2025-013795v1.14","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1056\/NEJMp0807461"},{"key":"2026031910201170000_medhum-2025-013795v1.15","unstructured":"White T . Don\u2019t let \u201cipatient\u201d detract from hands-on medicine, stanford author\/educator urges. Stanford Medicine News Center; 2009. 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