Dundee is all about encouraging collaboration and cross discipline working and this ethos is embodied in the SSC (student selected component) offered by the School of Medicine called the Art of Medicine. The module explores how a study of the arts can lead to a greater understanding of what it means to be a good doctor, including aspects such as reflective practice, team-work and the development of empathy. Students discuss the role of arts, culture, and creativity in promoting wellbeing, and the relevance of this to patient care.
The SSC involves visits to cultural institutions including the University’s own archives and museums. With Museum Services students looked at various objects from the Tayside Medical History Museum and discussed how these represent changes to medical practice and to public attitudes to health. One example was a UV Lamp which was being marketed by Boots as a health product in the 1970s despite the link between UV and skin cancer having been proven in the 1950s.
They also looked at artworks from the collections that depict medical practice and the experience of patients through the ages, for example Elizabeth Hill’s painting of the Hyperbaric Oxygen Chamber in the Multiple Sclerosis Clinic in Peddie St, c.1970s.
The visit to the University Archives included a discussion of asylum records, how we very rarely hear patient voices in the archives and the way that can be rectified through creative writing and art therapy. Students learnt about Charles Altamont Doyle, father of Arthur Conan Doyle, who was encouraged to draw and paint while in Sunnyside Asylum and about current projects run by the Archives to record patient experiences.
They also discussed journaling and keeping diaries focusing on Ruth Young, a pioneer of women’s and maternity health in the 1930s who travelled the world providing training and reporting on the care provided in different countries. The diaries, which include photographs and other ephemera, give vivid descriptions of her experiences.
DCA hosted a creative workshop for the students (see image above). Inspired by artist Marlene Dumas’ work in Acts of Creation: On Art and Motherhood, they created collaborative portraits together. Here’s what they had to say about the session:
“I really enjoyed today! It was fun being able to express ourselves through art and interesting to see how others did it.”
“Had so much fun today! Brightened up my Friday. Loved bringing out my inner child.”
“It was really fun and helped me to destress after a difficult week, thank you!”
Many thanks for hosting my students. Within their work and reflections, other key artefacts that made an impression o them included an anatomy book made of human skin? and war journals from a nurse. Kind Regards. Kevin Mc.