1.
From Looking for Missing Pieces to
Recognizing the Bigger Picture: What
Health Workers can Learn from Art
Olaf Kraus de Camargo
@DevPeds
March 3rd – 5th 2016, Hamilton Convention Centre
http://tinyurl.com/pickwell

2.
Curing x Curating
• Same Latin origin: curare = to take care
 Understanding cure as elimination of illness makes
us focus more on the diagnosis than on the person
 Curating: selecting and exposing pieces of art –
putting them in context
 What could be the role of “curating” in health care?

3.
The Power of Diagnosis
• Power to the diagnostician:
 Ability of prognosis (knowing before) (chance of
dying, years of life left, ability to reach milestones,
future opportunities on the job market)

4.
The Power of Diagnosis
• Power to the therapy provider:
 Select access to care
 Specialize treatment
 Fend off competition (”not qualified”)

5.
The Power of Diagnosis
• Hope to the “patient”
 Get rid of the disease (be “cured”)

6.
The Process of Diagnosis
• “Looking for missing pieces” – a process of ruling out
 Did the child meet all the developmental milestones?
 Did the child grow within the normal range?
 Has the child presented with other health problems?
 Does the child have an abnormal physical exam?
 Is there a family history for a specific diagnosis?

7.
The Art Institute of Chicago Gift of Frank B. Hubachek
© Salvador Dalí, Fundació Gala-Salvador Dalí / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York, 2014
Appreciating Art
• What is the first thing you see?
• Where do your eyes go next?
• Consider how the artist uses the elements:
colour, texture, shape/form, line, and space
• Consider how the artist uses the following
principles: balance, emphasis, and
movement.
• Keep in mind how the medium/media, size,
and style of art affect how you see it.
• Look again – what does it mean to you?

8.
Meet Lars*
• Boy, 4 years old
Ex-preemie of 32 weeks, birth weight 1665g (ICD10: P07.12)
Double-outlet-right-ventricle (ICD10: Q20.2)
Valvular and infundibular pulmonary stenosis (ICD10: Q24.4)
Global developmental delay (ICD10: F70.0)
*Kraus de Camargo O, Simon L. Die ICF-CY in der Praxis. Bern: Verlag Hans Huber; 2013

9.
The Missing Pieces

10.
The Missing Pieces

11.
The Missing Pieces

12.
The Missing Pieces

13.
The Big Picture

14.
Far from the Tree*
*Solomon A. Far From the Tree: Parents,
Children and the Search for Identity,
Scribner; 2012

15.
Meet Lars*
• Boy, 4 years old
 Father is in jail
 Custody disputes between parents and CAS is involved
 Disagreements between professionals if Lars should be allowed to visit his dad
 Required multiple hospitalizations
 Has difficulty to establish trusting relationships, shy, withdrawn
 Gets easily stressed in Kindergarten, educators are not sure what to expect from him
and how to support him
*Kraus de Camargo O, Simon L. Die ICF-CY in der Praxis. Bern: Verlag Hans Huber; 2013

16.
Appreciating People with Health Problems
• What is the first thing you see and hear?
• Boy, 4 years old
 Father is in jail

17.
Appreciating People with Health Problems
• Where do your eyes and your mind go next?
• Who takes care of this kid?
 Custody disputes between parents and CAS is involved

18.
Appreciating People with Health Problems
• Consider how life set up this person in front of you: her family, work, living
environment
 Gets easily stressed in Kindergarten, educators are not sure what to expect
from him and how to support him
• Consider how life presents: balance, emphasis, and trajectory.
 Disagreements between professionals if Lars should be allowed to visit his dad
 Required multiple hospitalizations
 Has difficulty to establish trusting relationships, shy, withdrawn

19.
Appreciating People with Health Problems
• Look again – what does it mean to you?
 A 4 year old boy in need - How can I help?
 Importance of getting all professionals on the same page –
interprofessional collaboration
 Importance of identifying facilitators, strengths and resilience in the
family and the support system
 Importance of stable and trusting relationships

20.
Health Professionals as Curators
• Appreciate persons beyond their diagnosis
• See persons in the context of their life situation
• Take care of persons by looking at the big picture

21.
Thank you!
“Everlast” Part of “Tensor Teddy”
by Michelle Bellemare, 2002