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As part of our Fundamental Role of the Arts and Humanities in Medical Education (FRAHME) initiative the AAMC collected hundreds of stories, reflections, and poetry, both oral and written, from health care professionals between the fall of 2020 and the spring of 2021.

These creative expressions offered a way for physicians, residents, and medical students to reflect on the uncertainty surrounding the twin pandemics of COVID-19 and racial injustice. By chronicling these, we aim to honor our community, provide outlets for creative and expressive thought, and continue to integrate the humanities and the arts in medicine. Some prevailing themes of these contributions were disconnection, hope and gratitude, and grief and loss.

The published works are presented in several, curated collections:

Stories & Poems

AAMC collected over two hundred 55-word stories and poems (with or without images) that capture health care professionals’ and trainees’ experiences during these unprecedented times.

StoryCorps

AAMC partnered with StoryCorps Connect, a platform that enables anyone to record an interview using video conference technology, to offer guided interviews for health care professionals and trainees to reflect on these unprecedented times. Each interview will be preserved at the Library of Congress. Viewers can watch any of the 13 full-length interviews, or view three minute excerpts of those interviews in the “On the Front Lines” collection.

To contribute your own interview, you can sign in to the AAMC StoryCorps page, read the instructions and suggested interview questions, and get started.

The Good Listening Project

The Good Listening Project partnered to help AAMC offer constituents a listening poet experience. They conduct an interview with a health professional or trainee and subsequently transform the conversation into an original work of poetry. Over 200 poems to date have been created through this experience. In addition to the the text versions of these poems, The Good Listening Project has also created a podcast around this partnership. In each of the 15 podcast episodes their Listener Poets bring you three poems along with the stories behind the conversations that inspired each poem.