Legal Research

"Can Lawyers, Like Physicians, Learn Lessons from Jazz about Communication? (And Don't Forget What Mediators Can Learn from Jazz)"

This post was written by StephanieWestAllen: "At a recent meeting of the American College of Physicians, a session featured jazz and lessons the musical genre has for physicians communicating with their patients. (I have long thought mediators can learn from jazz; see link below.) From "Jazz offers lessons for doctor-patient interaction" (amednews.com):

"Jazz is all about harmony in communication. When jazz musicians play, they play in a way that goes along with [how] the rest of the band is playing," said Dr. [Paul] Haidet ...  .

Dr. Haidet and Gary Onady, MD, PhD, an internist and pediatrician, led a session ... aimed at educating physicians to use the characteristics of jazz to improve their patient communication skills.

They described a physician's range of skills within his specialty as his instrument. They compared a patient's chart with song sheets. The riff, they said, is a physician's rapid recall of knowledge.

A physician needs to be ready to improvise when..."

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Source: idealawg, 26 May 2010, reproduced with permission of the author.

Full post as published by Stark County Law Library Blawg on May 26, 2010 (boomark / email).