Creative Artistic types in Med School?

[goodlookinrebel]

I am a creative artistic type. When I was in highschool I was told that creative people dont make good doctors\wouldnt enjoy medicine. Are there any creative types here? Does anyone know any creative types in med school or that are practicing medicine? Any encouragement or discouragement?

NOTE: Being taught to play an instrument as a kid doesnt neccasarily classify you as a creative type. I am talking about people who actively write music\poetry\literature or paint or sculpt or take photos or whatever. How does the passionate artist mix with the practice of medicine?

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[HumbleMD]

I am a creative artistic type. When I was in highschool I was told that creative people dont make good doctors\wouldnt enjoy medicine. Are there any creative types here? Does anyone know any creative types in med school or that are practicing medicine? Any encouragement or discouragement?

NOTE: Being taught to play an instrument as a kid doesnt neccasarily classify you as a creative type. I am talking about people who actively write music\poetry\literature or paint or sculpt or take photos or whatever. How does the passionate artist mix with the practice of medicine?

I think yes but no. Creative types are definitely needed in medical school, but there are definitely challenges. Anecdotally, I have a friend who is an incredibly talented writer - she won a Hopwood award, and is currently a pre-med (English major of course). Unfortunately, I worry about her, becuase she is quite vulnerable, waify, and easily effected (makes for a great writer, but a poor pre-med). She did fine on her MCATs and such, but I worry about her making it through the interview process, and having the diligence to apply in general (not to mention put up with the strain of med school itself). This of course is not to stigmatize all writers and creative folks as waify. Remember med schools try to assemble a diverse (ideologically, etc). class.

 

[PEN15]

I am a creative artistic type. When I was in highschool I was told that creative people dont make good doctors\wouldnt enjoy medicine. Are there any creative types here? Does anyone know any creative types in med school or that are practicing medicine? Any encouragement or discouragement?

NOTE: Being taught to play an instrument as a kid doesnt neccasarily classify you as a creative type. I am talking about people who actively write music\poetry\literature or paint or sculpt or take photos or whatever. How does the passionate artist mix with the practice of medicine?

I've always been the type of person who when told that I can't do something I do it anyway to prove them wrong. I write a lot. It's what keeps me sane at times. One of my blog readers suggested to me that I should practice medicine for a while and then write a book, which I plan on doing one day. It might be about medicine, it might not - it's too early to tell. However, I'm more interested in screenplay writing. I truly believe that one of the reasons why I got into med school was because of my admissions essay - so it helps to be creative. And as far as those people who told you that creative people can't be good doctors, what the hell do they know? They're not doctors.

O and I did my undergrad in chemistry. So yes you can have it all.

 

[HumbleMD]

I've always been the type of person who when told that I can't do something I do it anyway to prove them wrong.]

What a great reason to enter the medical profession... :smile:

 

[PEN15]

What a great reason to enter the medical profession... :smile:

I obviously didn't put that on my essay

FYI I never once had anybody doubt my ability to get into med school. There were times when I doubted myself, but it doesn't matter now. I think with anything in life, if you want it bad enough you'll find a way to get it.

 

[gunkspam]

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[thejonqproject]

I don't think thats true at all. As a creative type, you are among the fringe in your med school class, and that is a good thing. I like to consider myself as someone who has creative aspects of his life, and I believe that it those would only benefit you in med school. You look at things in different ways, ( ochem no longer becomes carbon bonded hydrogens but can also be an artistic medium ) , you can bring different perspectives to the rest of your class, and overall you probably are more socially cultured which would be good in patient relations.

So... don't stop believing. 🙂

 

[Depakote]

My PI has designed the prints for our annual patient celebration each year. He's actually a very good artist... and I can tell he enjoys medicine.

 

[goodlookinrebel]

Thanx for the responses.

What really caught me about what I was told wasnt so much that artist dont make good doctors, it was more the suggestion that artist wouldnt enjoy the practice of medicine.

The other thing is that if I dont go into medicine I would likely keep my day job as an electrician. I dont see that affording me any more of an artistic outlet than medicine.

My PI has designed the prints for our annual patient celebration each year. He's actually a very good artist... and I can tell he enjoys medicine.

Its not the ability to create that makes you a creative type(imho), its the need to create and compose beauty and/or tragedy.

 

[psipsina]

I'm an artsy type (paint, draw, photography, needlecrafts etc) and I'm enjoying medschool as much as any sane person can enjoy a sometimes stressful/exhausting experience like this. I'm only a first year but so far I've used my drawing skills to help me learn anatomy (pretty colors and pictures stick in my head --> dermatomes would make no sense to me without colored pencils) and we learned some basic suturing knots the other day and my hands picked it up quite naturally because of my needle work and former obssessive friendship bracelet making in middleschool (who knew that would ever be useful??). Dissections also sometimes feel alot like sculpture . . . its almost like you are carving the structures out of the overlying fascia and adipose with a scalpel and forceps. One of the things I'm really interested in doing is using my manual dexterity to heal people, I think its a great way to use artistically skilled hands to benefit humanity.

 

[Patton77]

personally, just to add my two cents in here really, I'm a creative person. I've been under the umbrella of the medical school environment as a master's student. I can tell you that being creative is fine and dandy. It won't help you, and the only way it can hurt you is if you get frustrated at the lack of creativity and straigh-forward/banality of the medical profession. creative minds are the one's that work well with patients. you'll find first two years of classes to be tiresome, but once you hit the wards, it'll be more fun. i disagree with surgery being creative, even plastics. To some degree, yes, it can be creative, but to a tiny tiny extent. this isn't the movie "brazil." Have fun though.

 

[becky_C]

I am a creative artistic type. When I was in highschool I was told that creative people dont make good doctors\wouldnt enjoy medicine. Are there any creative types here? Does anyone know any creative types in med school or that are practicing medicine? Any encouragement or discouragement?

NOTE: Being taught to play an instrument as a kid doesnt neccasarily classify you as a creative type. I am talking about people who actively write music\poetry\literature or paint or sculpt or take photos or whatever. How does the passionate artist mix with the practice of medicine?

Hey- I write music and have a jazz trio. I've written a couple of novels and enjoy art- though I can't draw to save my life...save for a good stick man. So absolutely creative types- You have to think outside the box to get to the heart of complex scientific problems, be they in medicine or other disciplines. New discoveries dont' come from tried and true methods, but creativity!!!

That's my 2 cents' worth.

 

[A Tree]

Not a med student yet...but...I think there are lots of ways your artistic personality could make you a good doctor. Obviously you might enjoy some fields over others--depends on what kind of artist you are... are you interested in process, product, form, technique, emotion, writing, collaboration, creativity, technology, imaging, detail.... you get the idea. Are there certain types of artists you'd want to serve? A lot of artists don't have insurance for instance. Maybe you'd just want to be surrounded by it (big city). As someone with an artistic background I've been thinking about a lot of this during the application process...

 

[somemaybedoc]

I am a creative artistic type. When I was in highschool I was told that creative people dont make good doctors\wouldnt enjoy medicine. Are there any creative types here? Does anyone know any creative types in med school or that are practicing medicine? Any encouragement or discouragement?

NOTE: Being taught to play an instrument as a kid doesnt neccasarily classify you as a creative type. I am talking about people who actively write music\poetry\literature or paint or sculpt or take photos or whatever. How does the passionate artist mix with the practice of medicine?

People in high school usually give crappy stupid advice based on poorly informed stereotypes, one of which you will see in parenthesis. As long as you can learn the material and are a dependable person (not a flaky, my chi isn't good today so I'll skip roations type), your creativity won't hurt you.

 

[Writer1985]

Its not the ability to create that makes you a creative type(imho), its the need to create and compose beauty and/or tragedy.

I think that's a great way of putting it. If I'm feeling flippant I sometimes call my writing my "little addiction."

Most of the people I've talked to have been supportive about continuing my writing in medical school. But at one of my interviewers, the student interviewer pretty much scoffed at my literary background and said something like, "Not much time to be frivolous in med school!" I really wanted to say something snarky about the "frivolity" of Anton Chekhov or William Carlos Williams (both physicians!) but why make a bad interview worse?

 

[searun]

I've always been the type of person who when told that I can't do something I do it anyway to prove them wrong. I write a lot. It's what keeps me sane at times. One of my blog readers suggested to me that I should practice medicine for a while and then write a book, which I plan on doing one day. It might be about medicine, it might not - it's too early to tell. However, I'm more interested in screenplay writing. I truly believe that one of the reasons why I got into med school was because of my admissions essay - so it helps to be creative. And as far as those people who told you that creative people can't be good doctors, what the hell do they know? They're not doctors.

O and I did my undergrad in chemistry. So yes you can have it all.

and the screen writer and producer of ER on tv graduated from Harvard Medical School or at least some medical school.

You can be an artist/novelist/doctor.

Searun

 

[PEN15]

and the screen writer and producer of ER on tv graduated from Harvard Medical School or at least some medical school.

You can be an artist/novelist/doctor.

Searun

I bet he makes quite a bit of money doing it too! But we all know that people go into medicine not for the money right? 🙄 Does anybody know who's the medical advisor on SCRUBS?

 

[floatingsponge]

Creative people are rainmakers. They are the ones that are most likely to make an impact, in whatever field they pursue in.

Let me give you one case in physics. Edward Witten studied History. He then switched to physics. In just a few short years, he became one of the most prolific physicist ever live and solved many theoretical problems in String Theory. He won the Fields Medal a few years back. I am sure his nonpedagogical background has to do with alot of his creative ability in physics.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Witten

Creative people are needed in medical schools. We need more breakthroughs and speedy advancement in science.

 

[PhantomfanMD]

I've actually played the Phantom in "The Phantom of the Opera" on the U.S. tour as an understudy about 40 times. The rest of the time I was in the ensemble. Best 6 months of my life. I wonder how unique med schools will think that is.

 

[jash0624]

I started out as a dance student. 🙂

 

[Kardizzle]

and the screen writer and producer of ER on tv graduated from Harvard Medical School or at least some medical school.

You can be an artist/novelist/doctor.

Searun

You're referring to Michael Crichton, who went to Harvard Medical School and also wrote "Jurassic Park" and a lot of other books which were turned into movies. In his autobiography, he wrote that he hated the thought of practicing medicine, which was a major factor in his decision to do what he does now. He was an English major in college, and wrote a book while in medical school called "A Case of Need," and the book did quite well, which further pushed him to not practice medicine.

So in this case, Crichton was a creative type who did not enjoy the practice of medicine. Just because you get into or go to medical school does not mean you will enjoy it.

 

[AmoryBlaine]

Speaking as a current MS-III, it's not going to be that big of a deal one way of the other.

Most of medicine is pattern recognition, you'll be suprised how cut and dried alot of things are. If someone's BP is elevated, you treat it. If they have cholecystitis, you cut the thing out. There's not alot of room in most fields for "creativity."

As for manual dexterity, procedures are a technical skill that you learn through repetition. I don't think being an artist will confer much advantage.

The main thing it takes to be really succesful in medical school is self-discipline, deliberation, and a methodical nature. Speaking as someone who comes from a liberal arts background and balked at "hard science" in undergrad I can tell you that while I have plenty of "brain power" I'm not as good as some of my colleagues that are more methodical in nature.

Very few fields in medicine are going to be a true outlet for creativity. Evidence-based medicine determines alot of behavior and "standards of care" determine even more.

People often speak of Plastic Surgery as the outlet for the creative, while there might be some truth to this it is important to realize that Plastics is one of the 3 most competitive residencies out there. Many people who want to do it are not able to. It requires stellar board scores and good class rank - so if you want to do it you can't use "creativity" to get there, you have to hit the books.

Hope this helps.

 

[gujuDoc]

First off let us remember that in the beginning of the world of science as an entity, much of the scientific facts were jumbled amongst the thoughts of philosophers and poets and those of the arts. Things were not as constrained and more generalized and studied in a broader sense. This is an idea that has since disappeared and should again be brought into schools but isn't done nearly enough though they try by making us take gen ed reqs.


Secondly, having a multitude of talents are looked upon highly because the schools look for diverse candidates who can excel in other things besides medicine. The philosophy on doing such is that these people will be able to communicate better with patients though I don't know how true that is. HMS especially looks highly upon those who have a greater talent in things like dance and music or theater or writing or other artsy kinds of things. Part of it for the reasons I stated in the first paragraph and part of it because of that which I stated earlier in this paragraph. They want people who are brilliant all around and also able to show that they have other interests besides medicine, in other words.

Thirdly, there are many things to be said about someone who has the precision of a painter. Painters tend to have very steady and flexible hands which can be very useful in cases where surgical procedures are involved because it takes that same sort of precision and steady but flexible hands to do surgical procedures. As others pointed out, other aspects of a painter could help in reconstructive in particular because people with an eye for various aspects of imagery can come to easily see what may be able to better have an eye for those imagery aspects of reconstructive surgery. So you see there's a use for art in medicine too.

A friend of mine gave me a box of stuff she collected from med schools throughout her interview trail last year. Amongst those things was a magazine from Washington University in St. Louis. The magazine was about a poetry magazine that they have made for the students. So these things are encouraged and looked highly upon.

I'll comment on my last point later because I must go volunteer now.

 

[floatingsponge]

<<Most of medicine is pattern recognition, you'll be suprised how cut and dried alot of things are. If someone's BP is elevated, you treat it. If they have cholecystitis, you cut the thing out. There's not alot of room in most fields for "creativity." >>

This is the FIRST LEVEL of learning. When you are new to the field, pattern recognition and following procedures are a must and is the fastest way to learn. Once you have learned and practiced all the techniques exist, some can proceed to a MASTER LEVEL at inventing new techniques to approach the problem better. This is how discoveries are made. If everyone just follow the same procedures then there is no progress in medicine. So what I am saying is that most doctors will practice what they have learned and treat patients. A few will explore beyond the envelop of medicine and make new discoveries. This is true in whatever field of medicine you are in.

 

[goodlookinrebel]

First off let us remember that in the beginning of the world of science as an entity, much of the scientific facts were jumbled amongst the thoughts of philosophers and poets and those of the arts. Things were not as constrained and more generalized and studied in a broader sense. This is an idea that has since disappeared and should again be brought into schools

I agree. I try to explain this to people and they scoff at me. I mean much modern science was really invented by Christian philosophers\theologians. Think Bacon, Faraday, Newton, Copernicus, Galileo and so forth. Even if they were not spiritual they still viewed philosophy and art along with science as one great quest of beauty and discovery.

The scientific community has become very cold and negative. I will change this. Maybe I could be like Patch Adams, just replace the clown outfit with an upright bass.😎

 

[BleepTastic]

But at one of my interviewers, the student interviewer pretty much scoffed at my literary background and said something like, "Not much time to be frivolous in med school!"

Holy Ignoramus!
This is one of the very issues that prevented me from going straight into medicine. Most of the Premed students I knew had very few "intellectual" or artistic hobbies. Usually the extent of it would be sports and drinking. Philosophers, poets, artists and even wannabe's were far and few between.
So I don't expect to enjoy medical school that much, but I do think I will enjoy practicing medicine.
And it is funny because back in the days, physicians were cultural paragons. Now they seem to be approaching robotic diagnosticians.