Imagine the last time you went to the doctor.
Maybe the environment—the smell of chemicals, the sounds of machines beeping—made you feel uncomfortable. Perhaps you had trouble describing your symptoms, as if no one could understand the sensations you knew to be true. Or, your physician interrupted you before you even had the chance.
Maybe you felt like the doctors and nurses saw you as an illness to be diagnosed, a problem to solve, rather than a person with passions, a cultural history, family and friends, life experiences—a human being with a story all your own.
This disconnect between patient and medical professionals is becoming a frequent point of conversation. In one recent study, published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine, researchers found that patients have 11 seconds to explain the reasons for their visit before physicians interrupt them.
But what if the arts could change the whole experience?
At VCUarts, faculty and students are leveraging the school’s position within a major research university—outfitted with a range of medical programs and a top-ranked hospital—to help people live happier and healthier lives.
Within VCUarts, 20 percent of faculty members actively engage in research collaborations, creative works, courses and programs related to health care. Research projects take creative approaches to managing pain, increasing empathy among health care professionals, and enhancing understanding of patient symptoms. Some projects benefit from the guidance of VCUarts’ inaugural physician-scientist in residence, Dr. John E. Nestler, as he deepens collaboration between the two campuses.
“Medicine and the arts deal with the same thing—the human condition,” Nestler says. “They seek to heal the body and heal the soul. The bringing together of art and medicine allows both artists and medical professionals to be better.”
Feature originally appeared in the VCUarts alumni magazine, Studio.