Staff Engagement and Education

Healthcare Professionals

Arts participation for healthcare professionals sets out to give participants the chance to explore and develop art making with the aim of building confidence and expertise to work on and support arts projects within the healthcare settings.

Participants will experiment with a wide range of materials and ways of working to produce creative works while thinking about the particular needs of care groups. The course content will follow the art making process, from gathering first ideas through to how best to exhibit work.

Connecting

Having a moment to engage with a patient in a non-medical level can build trust, rapport and connections. In this outpatient endocrine unit the patients and the staff communicated using puppets that they had created during workshops. The nurse was able to remind the patient about her next appointment and they agreed that the puppets would meet again - what a great incentive for the patient to happily return!

Project Training for Staff

During this project, we ensured that staff were trained to continue the program after we had left. The students were from the neighbouring schools and the staff took part in the arts-infused program alongside the residents and students. Some staff said they had come to know the residents as a result and their interactions with them changed significantly

Beyond Illness

Arts-infused programs enable clinical staff and patients to engage with one another in a share experience: reminding the patient that they are more than their diagnosis.