A visit to The Doctor

Abstract

Whether the arts have any value in the medical curriculum continues to be debated. This article presents the author's views on the use of the arts, the principal contention being that the arts (the humanities) can teach us a lot about the art of medicine. In this article, Thomas Fildes' painting, The Doctor, and Randa Haines' film of the same name are referenced to demonstrate how the arts may be utilized in order to create broader awareness and understanding and ultimately, transformational learning and change, two quite powerful outcomes. How the arts should be incorporated into the medical curriculum and how they should be taught are definite issues. This article makes recommendations with respect to some of the difficulties associated with both.

Concluding Commentary. The Importance of the Humanities in Medical Education: Where are we now?

“…Zaharias (Zaharias, 2018), an Australian General Practitioner brilliantly grapples with how to use Art in medical education, taking Luke Fildes's painting The Doctor as an example, and asks the question "is it not logical to turn to the arts (the humanities) for the lessons which science cannot teach? "; perhaps a sentence that should be printed in bold and placed on the desks of all policymakers involved with medical education.…”