Observation is an indispensable and important skill in clinical practice

while observational training of visual arts is one of the most important ways to cultivate the observation ability. This study retrospectively analyzed applications of visual arts in medical education

from the teaching process of visual thinking strategy

to the selection principle of visual art work types

and to pre-and-post-training evaluation methods of core competence indicators

such as observation

communication and empathy

providing information to this interdisciplinary teaching practice in China.