Do you ever wish your doctors would spend more time talking to you, examining you (well…maybe not), and building a relationship with you—instead of looking at charts and paperwork to make a diagnosis?

The Museum’s Education Department is partnering with UAB Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine and Pediatrics, Stephen Russell, MD, on a new pilot program designed to help emerging doctors become better communicators and diagnosticians. A new course, Art in Medicine: Using Visual Arts to Improve Clinical Observation Skills, will be offered to second year medical students beginning October 17, 2011. The course, which will be conducted in the Museum galleries, explores the relationship between observation and diagnosis by exposing students to works of fine art and teaching them critical skills of observation.

Taught by Museum Education staff members Samantha Kelly and Suzy Harris and the General Internal Medicine Faculty at UAB, the course focuses on close looking to improve skills of description, interpretation, and how to discern emotional clues based on a given context. By the end of the three-session course at the Museum, students will have an improved skills set for clinical diagnosis, and in so doing, an improved appreciation for art and the Museum.