DURHAM, N.C. — Microbiology and anatomy are the types of classes that fill a medical student's days and nights, but art takes center stage at Duke. Art appreciation is helping to create a new class of doctors.

First-year medical students at Duke are learning the fine art of observation through art. Mark Naftanel never thought his medical education would bring him to the university's art museum.

"When I heard about this I was excited because we're kind of stuck in the classroom this first year," he said.

Organizers said the program is the perfect canvas to teach medical students to really see what is going on with a patient and not rush to judgment.

"We all have assumptions that we bring that we need to be aware of," said Dr. Tublu Chatterjee of the Duke University School of Medicine.

The art museum seminar is expected to become a regular part of Duke's "Introduction to Physical Diagnosis" class. A handful of other medical schools also use art as a learning tool.