The Medical Detective 2.5 Credits/Maximum of 2.5

Catalog description

Practicing good clinical medicine requires both keen observational skills and careful deductive reasoning - precisely the skills essential for any good detective. Identification of key pieces of data, recognition of patterns in the data gathered, and interpretation and reinterpretation of both data and pattern, are key components of medical decision-making. The purpose of this course is to emphasize the power of observation and interpretation in the practice of medicine. Using works from the whole spectrum of the fine arts (painting, music, writing, photography, dance, drama) students will challenge their observational and analytical skills and will communicate their impressions and findings to others, a process similar to developing a differential diagnosis of a patient's illness. Unlike the goal of arriving at one "correct" answer in medicine, however, this course encourages multiple answers and interpretations. By exploring what various people experience in a work of art, we come to understand that our own perspectives are limited. Occasionally, noting what is absent or not said is as important as what is readily observable. Listening to others' observations enables us to understand more completely and therefore interpret more accurately.