it all started with Hamlet and summer
camp I was in middle school at the time
and as my family would later say that
summer the acting bug bit me
it was a performing arts camp and there
I spent more time than your average 12
year old dissecting what to be or not to
be really meant and that was only the
beginning I can’t count the
Shakespearean monologues that I
memorized in my room or the number of
times that my friends and I would burst
into show tunes for no apparent reason
from that summer until my high school
graduation I was a theatre kid the
appeal of theatre was the stories that
we told and the depth of our characters
for every nameless ensemble member that
I played I gave them a backstory a
reason for why they were there and the
feelings behind what they did now during
my time in theater and even to this day
I’ve had a recurring dream maybe you’ve
had one too in this dream it’s a busy
day and everyone is buzzing with energy
I can tell that an important show is
about to begin
and that I have a big line to deliver in
this dream I am equal parts thrilled and
terrified because I realize I have no
idea what the show is and I don’t know
what my line is either sometimes in the
stream I’m frantically searching behind
the scene trying to figure out what it
is I’m supposed to say or do and other
times I’m simply confronted with a
faceless audience and I stand there mute
now I always wake in a panic and I’m
relieved that those missing words are
gone with my dream this is not a unique
fear and it’s not one exclusive to
actors we all want to have our scripts
and our action plans we want to be
prepared for any scenario that life
might throw at us flashing forward –
when I started in medical school I
thought that theatre was behind me it
was a hobby that I used to have now I
was a scientist all I had to do was
figure out how the body works memory
scientific facts and stay up to date
with the latest scientific discoveries
there was no time for art even the
briefest lecture on humanities and
medicine was seen as a distraction
keeping me from studying what really
mattered the krebs cycle now what I
didn’t realize before starting medical
school is that students learn with
actors instead of unleashing novice
students on unsuspecting patients
medical schools have adopted what it’s
called simulation based medical
education what this means is that
throughout all four years of medical
school students are learning medical
interviews and physical exam skills with
standardized patient actors these are
dedicated individuals that the school
hires and trains to teach us those
important clinical skills and they they
bring these cases to life and embody
their patients history you do all this
while teaching us how to palpate the
abdomen and how to build trust in a
15-minute interview these cases can
range from everything from how to
diagnose the flu to breaking bad news to
a stranger the medical students sit for
the first time with these actors in fake
exam rooms and practice what are seen to
be very real conversations playing the
role of future physician I learned how
to ask what brings you in today and how
to say I’m so sorry for this loss now it
didn’t take long for me to see this
connection between artificial
environments and theater my role was
always the same future physician and my
motivation was to solve the patient’s
problem now you to solve the patient’s
problem and the other characters they
always rotated through and they were
different and intriguing not only
because of their constellation of
symptoms each case was based off a real
person’s story and it was modeled to
teach me something about medicine it was
also during medical school that I
learned about how prevalent human
trafficking is and how frequently
trafficked persons encounter our health
care systems studies have estimated that
between 28 and 88
of traffic persons will have an
encounter with a healthcare professional
while being trafficked what’s more is
that many healthcare professionals
report no training and how to address
trafficking or treat patients
not unlike my bad dream they’re not sure
of what line comes next they don’t have
a script for how this encounter should
go how to best help the man woman or
child sitting in front of them here was
our opportunity to take our stage and to
teach those future physicians the
scripts or at least how the scene might
play out so that they would know what to
do in the future we had all the tools to
teach our future physicians about human
trafficking all we had to do was to
create the show the case is to be based
off of authentic stories those real
experiences from hospital emergency
rooms and clinics i sat down with
survivors and trafficking advocate anti
trafficking advocates to retrace those
moments from when health care providers
either helped or hurt their patients as
I was asking how could our future
physicians improve their care using
those stories I was able to write a
script as with any form of theatre there
were costumes the same clothes that you
or I might wear on a day off from work
and there’s makeup of tattoos that they
branded our patients as property and
there were props the same cell phone
that your eye might bring to pass a time
linked our patient to the trafficker
waiting outside our actors had coaching
we gave them direction about what
information they might share with a
nurse or physician and what was
off-limits now I want to give you a
spoiler in the scene there are no
miraculous happy endings like many true
cases of trafficking our patient wasn’t
able to leave the trafficker safely at
least not at this moment our students
were never meant to be cast as a knight
in shining armor we wanted to give them
the tools to empower their patient not
to rescue
so all
details in place it was Showtime without
knowing what the scene was our third
year medical students entered the room
and assessed the scene standing behind a
two-way mirror I was able to observe the
same case unfold over a hundred times
some students latched on right away that
there was something more to this case
than their patient was letting on and
others breeze right through the
interview they never sense that anything
was amiss each student left the room
after their interview was completed and
they learned about the true nature of
the case as well as what resources were
available to their patient we taught
them about the thousands of trafficking
cases that are reported every year in
the United States as well as what they
could do in the future
even though students knew that this was
not a real case they were moved and
transported by this narrative this case
asked them to use empathy to connect
with their patient and to build trust it
also presented them with a patient
problem that was not solvable at least
not at that moment several students left
the rooms with tears in their eyes they
were truly moved by this narrative one
student told me through tears I knew
something was wrong I just didn’t know
what to say or do looking into her face
I saw that my bad dream had come to life
she was filled with fear and uncertainty
she didn’t know how to help her patient
the students that they hadn’t mastered
their lines they weren’t sure how to
build that connection many survivors of
trafficking feel similar fear they’re
not sure of what parts of their story
they can share without judgment they too
are standing on a stage uncertain of
what line comes next this training was
to give their health care providers that
chance to recognize those signs of
trafficking and to respond with empathy
and build that connection we want them
to be empowered in writing the case I
wanted students to confront those
uncomfortable emotions to build
confidence in their ability to handle
similar precarious encounters with
future real patients years after
completing this lesson students
continued to remark on this case because
of the
Oshin behind the narrative students are
remembering those facts and the
information behind trafficking is not
fading into the blur of medical didactic
information working behind the scenes I
realized two things the first is that
medicine is not a series of problems to
be solved each patient we see has a
history and has depth to their character
regardless for the reason that they’re
coming in whether they’re here to see me
for the flu or they’re having a
life-threatening injury each person has
a story and depth of their character
there are no nameless ensemble members
here every person is unique and their
history is evolving and intricate the
second realization is that when I
stopped seeing patients as problems I
felt real energized seeing that each
person has a story that’s waiting to be
told and art and that has helped me to
fight burnout since working in our
simulation center I have felt more
motivated to volunteer and engage with
patients I found that there’s humanity
even in our most routine and ordinary
encounters some might say that art is a
form of therapy it is a treatment to
complement pharmacological remedies and
to improve patient well-being watching
these students and actors work together
I saw that art can be that and so much
more it can be a teaching tool to make
us better scientists and clinicians this
combination of art and science it’s not
exclusive to medicine either it can be
expanded to other fields and inform even
our most analytical and logical
endeavors returning to the example of
human trafficking right here in Tampa
Bay there’s work being done that melds
together aren’t science in the
University of South Florida College of
Public Health we have dr. missus who is
building together an advocacy team
against human trafficking he’s pulling
in experts from law
epidemiology medicine and at the core of
this team there’s an artist in residence
this artist is going to be responsible
for creating a work that encapsulates
the challenges and successes of anti
trafficking advocacy this
work of art it’s not just to be admired
but it’s gonna be used to guide and
inform their fight to find further
solutions we can apply the art as a
collaborative and guiding force for more
than just trafficking it can be used to
fight gun violence
to address the opioid epidemic even to
work on global warming
so when any fight we cannot work in
silos pretending that we’re gonna win
with only cold hard facts art is an
integral part for any solution eight
joins Club it joins diverse fields a
broadens our thinking and it invigorates
our effort art is what builds human
connection when we let art inform our
teaching those lessons of empathy and
complex social skills last longer now I
might not return to a life on the stage
and you might not find yourself as a
student doctor but we can all embrace
this intersection between art and
science thank you [Applause]
camp I was in middle school at the time
and as my family would later say that
summer the acting bug bit me
it was a performing arts camp and there
I spent more time than your average 12
year old dissecting what to be or not to
be really meant and that was only the
beginning I can’t count the
Shakespearean monologues that I
memorized in my room or the number of
times that my friends and I would burst
into show tunes for no apparent reason
from that summer until my high school
graduation I was a theatre kid the
appeal of theatre was the stories that
we told and the depth of our characters
for every nameless ensemble member that
I played I gave them a backstory a
reason for why they were there and the
feelings behind what they did now during
my time in theater and even to this day
I’ve had a recurring dream maybe you’ve
had one too in this dream it’s a busy
day and everyone is buzzing with energy
I can tell that an important show is
about to begin
and that I have a big line to deliver in
this dream I am equal parts thrilled and
terrified because I realize I have no
idea what the show is and I don’t know
what my line is either sometimes in the
stream I’m frantically searching behind
the scene trying to figure out what it
is I’m supposed to say or do and other
times I’m simply confronted with a
faceless audience and I stand there mute
now I always wake in a panic and I’m
relieved that those missing words are
gone with my dream this is not a unique
fear and it’s not one exclusive to
actors we all want to have our scripts
and our action plans we want to be
prepared for any scenario that life
might throw at us flashing forward –
when I started in medical school I
thought that theatre was behind me it
was a hobby that I used to have now I
was a scientist all I had to do was
figure out how the body works memory
scientific facts and stay up to date
with the latest scientific discoveries
there was no time for art even the
briefest lecture on humanities and
medicine was seen as a distraction
keeping me from studying what really
mattered the krebs cycle now what I
didn’t realize before starting medical
school is that students learn with
actors instead of unleashing novice
students on unsuspecting patients
medical schools have adopted what it’s
called simulation based medical
education what this means is that
throughout all four years of medical
school students are learning medical
interviews and physical exam skills with
standardized patient actors these are
dedicated individuals that the school
hires and trains to teach us those
important clinical skills and they they
bring these cases to life and embody
their patients history you do all this
while teaching us how to palpate the
abdomen and how to build trust in a
15-minute interview these cases can
range from everything from how to
diagnose the flu to breaking bad news to
a stranger the medical students sit for
the first time with these actors in fake
exam rooms and practice what are seen to
be very real conversations playing the
role of future physician I learned how
to ask what brings you in today and how
to say I’m so sorry for this loss now it
didn’t take long for me to see this
connection between artificial
environments and theater my role was
always the same future physician and my
motivation was to solve the patient’s
problem now you to solve the patient’s
problem and the other characters they
always rotated through and they were
different and intriguing not only
because of their constellation of
symptoms each case was based off a real
person’s story and it was modeled to
teach me something about medicine it was
also during medical school that I
learned about how prevalent human
trafficking is and how frequently
trafficked persons encounter our health
care systems studies have estimated that
between 28 and 88
of traffic persons will have an
encounter with a healthcare professional
while being trafficked what’s more is
that many healthcare professionals
report no training and how to address
trafficking or treat patients
not unlike my bad dream they’re not sure
of what line comes next they don’t have
a script for how this encounter should
go how to best help the man woman or
child sitting in front of them here was
our opportunity to take our stage and to
teach those future physicians the
scripts or at least how the scene might
play out so that they would know what to
do in the future we had all the tools to
teach our future physicians about human
trafficking all we had to do was to
create the show the case is to be based
off of authentic stories those real
experiences from hospital emergency
rooms and clinics i sat down with
survivors and trafficking advocate anti
trafficking advocates to retrace those
moments from when health care providers
either helped or hurt their patients as
I was asking how could our future
physicians improve their care using
those stories I was able to write a
script as with any form of theatre there
were costumes the same clothes that you
or I might wear on a day off from work
and there’s makeup of tattoos that they
branded our patients as property and
there were props the same cell phone
that your eye might bring to pass a time
linked our patient to the trafficker
waiting outside our actors had coaching
we gave them direction about what
information they might share with a
nurse or physician and what was
off-limits now I want to give you a
spoiler in the scene there are no
miraculous happy endings like many true
cases of trafficking our patient wasn’t
able to leave the trafficker safely at
least not at this moment our students
were never meant to be cast as a knight
in shining armor we wanted to give them
the tools to empower their patient not
to rescue
so all
details in place it was Showtime without
knowing what the scene was our third
year medical students entered the room
and assessed the scene standing behind a
two-way mirror I was able to observe the
same case unfold over a hundred times
some students latched on right away that
there was something more to this case
than their patient was letting on and
others breeze right through the
interview they never sense that anything
was amiss each student left the room
after their interview was completed and
they learned about the true nature of
the case as well as what resources were
available to their patient we taught
them about the thousands of trafficking
cases that are reported every year in
the United States as well as what they
could do in the future
even though students knew that this was
not a real case they were moved and
transported by this narrative this case
asked them to use empathy to connect
with their patient and to build trust it
also presented them with a patient
problem that was not solvable at least
not at that moment several students left
the rooms with tears in their eyes they
were truly moved by this narrative one
student told me through tears I knew
something was wrong I just didn’t know
what to say or do looking into her face
I saw that my bad dream had come to life
she was filled with fear and uncertainty
she didn’t know how to help her patient
the students that they hadn’t mastered
their lines they weren’t sure how to
build that connection many survivors of
trafficking feel similar fear they’re
not sure of what parts of their story
they can share without judgment they too
are standing on a stage uncertain of
what line comes next this training was
to give their health care providers that
chance to recognize those signs of
trafficking and to respond with empathy
and build that connection we want them
to be empowered in writing the case I
wanted students to confront those
uncomfortable emotions to build
confidence in their ability to handle
similar precarious encounters with
future real patients years after
completing this lesson students
continued to remark on this case because
of the
Oshin behind the narrative students are
remembering those facts and the
information behind trafficking is not
fading into the blur of medical didactic
information working behind the scenes I
realized two things the first is that
medicine is not a series of problems to
be solved each patient we see has a
history and has depth to their character
regardless for the reason that they’re
coming in whether they’re here to see me
for the flu or they’re having a
life-threatening injury each person has
a story and depth of their character
there are no nameless ensemble members
here every person is unique and their
history is evolving and intricate the
second realization is that when I
stopped seeing patients as problems I
felt real energized seeing that each
person has a story that’s waiting to be
told and art and that has helped me to
fight burnout since working in our
simulation center I have felt more
motivated to volunteer and engage with
patients I found that there’s humanity
even in our most routine and ordinary
encounters some might say that art is a
form of therapy it is a treatment to
complement pharmacological remedies and
to improve patient well-being watching
these students and actors work together
I saw that art can be that and so much
more it can be a teaching tool to make
us better scientists and clinicians this
combination of art and science it’s not
exclusive to medicine either it can be
expanded to other fields and inform even
our most analytical and logical
endeavors returning to the example of
human trafficking right here in Tampa
Bay there’s work being done that melds
together aren’t science in the
University of South Florida College of
Public Health we have dr. missus who is
building together an advocacy team
against human trafficking he’s pulling
in experts from law
epidemiology medicine and at the core of
this team there’s an artist in residence
this artist is going to be responsible
for creating a work that encapsulates
the challenges and successes of anti
trafficking advocacy this
work of art it’s not just to be admired
but it’s gonna be used to guide and
inform their fight to find further
solutions we can apply the art as a
collaborative and guiding force for more
than just trafficking it can be used to
fight gun violence
to address the opioid epidemic even to
work on global warming
so when any fight we cannot work in
silos pretending that we’re gonna win
with only cold hard facts art is an
integral part for any solution eight
joins Club it joins diverse fields a
broadens our thinking and it invigorates
our effort art is what builds human
connection when we let art inform our
teaching those lessons of empathy and
complex social skills last longer now I
might not return to a life on the stage
and you might not find yourself as a
student doctor but we can all embrace
this intersection between art and
science thank you [Applause]
Please follow and like us: