March 8, 2017
“There is no more difficult art to acquire than the art of observation, and for some men it is quite as difficult to record an observation in brief and plain language.” - Sir William Osler
A descriptive paragraph colorfully describes a person, place or thing. Applied to medicine, accurate description describes the patient at hand and records observations in a medical chart. The words one chooses to use, however, can be very important, either intentionally or unintentionally. In this session, participants were challenged to reduce the ambiguity of language. Activities included gaining insight on the diversity of language, refining language, and understanding the terms description and interpretation as they apply to the visual arts and the clinical encounter. We were very fortunate to do one of our activities in the new Samurai Armor Exhibition!
