Creativity
by
The budding medical student examines the patient, exploring every symptom and recording every detail. The abdomen is… kind of tender? The story is just as ambiguous. The patient’s account disorients her: he dodges questions, forgets answers, and at times, prickles. The patient says too much or too little. Nothing lines up. Each piece of information generates more uncertainty. Being a doctor seemed like it would depend on commanding a vast knowledge. She is finding that in the practice of medicine, knowledge alone is inadequate. Taking care of patients necessitates creativity, as physicians have long known. The word traces its etymological roots to the Latin verb creare: to bring something forth or to make or produce. The word creativity had a more religious meaning—one connected to divine creation—until the second half of the twentieth century, when it evolved to refer to the imagination and new ways of knowing the world (Kristeller 1983; R. Williams 1976). For centuries, doctors have recognized the need for creative thinking beyond observation and empirical data alone to make sense of ambiguous or difficult problems in research and care (Altschuler 2018). Apollo is, after all, god of both medicine and poetry. Contemporary poet Dean Young (2010, 14)...
This essay may be found on page 45 of the printed volume.