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Observe. Analyze. Interpret. Decide. Explain. These were the
general directions given to Dartmouth
Medical School (DMS) students on a recent trip to the Hood Museum of Art. The visit was
part of a pilot program that promotes the power of observation in making
diagnoses.
Kara Detwiller (left) and Christopher Jordan, both students at Dartmouth
Medical School, examine Shotgun Hospitality, a painting by Frederic Remington
in the Hood Museum of Art. (Photo by Joseph Mehling '69)
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"I had heard of programs at other medical schools that used art
interaction to aid in patient interaction," says DMS Senior Advising Dean
Joe
O'Donnell DMS '71. "I thought that we could duplicate that program
here, and put our Dartmouth stamp on it."
He connected with Stephen
Plume (16.2kb PDF document), an artist and a professor of surgery, and they
reached out to the Hood's Director, Brian Kennedy. Soon they began working with
Vivian Ladd and Lesley Wellman, both in the education department at the museum,
to develop a program that would cultivate the simple, yet nuanced, ability to
notice things, whether in a painting or in a patient. During the month of May,
they implemented two pilot workshops at the Hood that sparked some thoughtful
comments from participants.
One student says, "I learned to be mindful when I am making
assumptions, interpretations, or just observations. I also learned how my
perspective can vary, depending on my knowledge or ignorance of a particular
work of art."
Wellman welcomed the opportunity to reach out to a community of students who
might not otherwise walk across town to visit the Hood.
"This is a creative program to help the participants look and think
critically, and also communicate effectively," says Wellman. "Once
they've carefully looked over a painting, the students have to report back to
the group about what they saw. After a painting has been thoroughly described,
the students discussed an interpretation, or diagnosis, of what it is about. It
was a revealing exercise."
"What a wonderful group," Ladd says of working with the DMS
students. "There is no way they are going to go on to become cold and
distant doctors."
DMS and the Hood will work to refine the program and offer it again to incoming
students this fall. O'Donnell hopes it will soon become a permanent
offering.
SUSAN KNAPP
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