Nurturing Clinical Skills Through Art

Serving as both artistic guide and patient to a group of curious medical students, Jamie Williams was a renaissance guest at Arts in Medicine. The program is a teaching exercise that challenges medical students to think beyond diagnosis and try to better understand their patients through artistic expression. A talented ceramicist, Williams was diagnosed HIV-positive ten years ago.

“AIDS is not going to get me,” he told the students, who used construction paper and crayons to translate his medical experiences into images of strength and courage. And he is putting up a good fight. His viral load is too low for his doctors to count.
Arts in Medicine was created to jump-start medical students’ creativity, increase observational skills, and give them the chance to express the personal side of medicine, listening to how a patient feels rather than simply what a patient feels. First-year medical students take three sessions of the program as part of their clinical skills course, under Ann Flipse, M.D., adjunct associate professor and director of the first-year clinical skills program. Local artists participate to guide students’ efforts, and real patients volunteer to share their stories. Very Special Arts of Florida provides art supplies, a video record of the day, and audio capabilities.
By : The Author