NEUROLOGY BOOK AND FILM CLUB
The Mayo Clinic experience Neurological illness brings pathos and shock but also an element of humanism. Thus, neurological disorders and their vicissitudes—in particular, the more disabling afflictions—speak to the imagination of book and screen writers. We wish to describe our experience of these art forms within the Neurology Book and Film Club at Mayo Clinic, Rochester, USA. Our ‘club’ was initiated in 2010 by neurology residents and is supported and attended by residents, fellows and consultant staff. We hold a monthly event to discuss a book or movie with a neurological theme, suggested and voted upon by attendees (figure 1). Currently, each participant buys or loans the book. The event rotates between residents’ and consultants’ homes. The experience of cinema requires optimal display of sight and sound, and is mostly watched in a home theatre. There are many films with accurate representations of acute or chronic neurologic disease. We generate a list of questions before the event, led by a resident or consultant. Typically, we discuss artistic rendering of the disorder, the overall context in which the neurological disorder is portrayed, our clinical experience regarding similar cases, and how the book or film enhanced and appreciated empathy for the disorder. Previous books read include factual or fictional accounts of neurology. Recent examples are The Diving Bell and The Butterfly (locked-in syndrome), The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down (epilepsy and crosscultural communication), Tinkers (epilepsy), Descartes’ Error (emotion and reasoning), Funes the memorious (perfect memory) and Musicophilia (neuroanatomy and neurophysiology of music). Feature films or documentaries have included Iris (Alzheimer’s disease), The Sea Inside (physicianassisted suicide in quadriplegia), The King’s Speech (stuttering), The 68
Figure 1 A selection of books discussed at the Mayo Clinic’s Neurology Book and Film Club.
Intouchables (pain with quadriplegia, among other themes). Upcoming selections are the novels, Saul Bellow’s Mr Sammler’s Planet (blindness, alienation), John Steinbeck’s The Wayward Bus (migraine), Ian McEwan’s Saturday (neurosurgery, Huntington’s disease, intracranial haemorrhage), Tilman Spengler’s Lenin’s brain (neuropathology of a genius brain), Anthony Burgess The Doctor is Sick (brain tumour) and movies The Death of Mr Lazarescu (compassion fatigue), Declaration of War (childhood brain tumour) and The Music Never Stopped (amnesia post neurosurgery, with spared musical memory). The initial motivations for starting our club were both personal and altruistic. The event provides a social gathering on equal footing for participants; increases rapport among colleagues; and most importantly appreciation of the arts. On the altruistic side, studying the arts may improve empathy among physicians, although measured outcomes of this have not been clearly validated.1–3 Nonetheless, medical programmes increasingly incorporate humanities (and thus the arts) as an integral part of medical student education.4–6 As one example, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, an autobiography of locked-in syndrome, provided rich
discussion regarding clinical experience from intensive care and stroke colleagues, contrasted with a firstperson perspective of the author’s physical limitations, and how this could improve our clinical care and compassion. We also enjoyed the subsequent movie, which employs artistic techniques where the viewer ‘becomes’ Jean-Dominique. His fixed visual field is shown through the lens of the camera, and the act of blinking by covering and uncovering the camera lens. In another example, we read ‘Musicophilia’ by Oliver Sacks, which fostered discussion on personal musical experiences and music within neurology subspecialties, and we also listened to select items of music referenced in the book. As a group, we feel this Book and Film Club is meaningful, as it expands our intuitive as well as intellectual knowledge in neurology, and ‘rounds out’ an appreciation for disorders we encounter day to day. Anhar Hassan, Eelco FM Wijdicks Department of Neurology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, USA Correspondence to Dr Eelco F M Wijdicks, Department of Neurology, Mayo Clinic, 200 First Street SW, Rochester, MN 55905, USA; [email protected]
Contributors Both authors equally contributed to writing the article.
Pract Neurol 2014;14:68–69. doi:10.1136/practneurol-2013-000777
NEUROLOGY BOOK AND FILM CLUB Competing interests None. Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed. This paper was reviewed by Katharine Harding, Cardiff, UK.
To cite Hassan A, Wijdicks EFM. Pract Neurol 2014;14:68–69. Published Online First 23 December 2013
REFERENCES 1 Schaff PB, Isken S, Tager RM. From contemporary art to core clinical skills: observation, interpretation, and meaningmaking in a complex environment. Acad Med 2011;86:1272–6. 2 Wolters FJ, Wijnen-Meijer M. The role of poetry and prose in medical education: the pen as mighty as the scalpel? Perspect Med Educ 2012;1:43–50. 3 Wershof Schwartz A, Abramson JS, Wojnowich I, et al. Evaluating the impact of the humanities in medical
Pract Neurol 2014;14:68–69. doi:10.1136/practneurol-2013-000777
education. Mt Sinai J Med 2009;76:372–80. 4 Gordon J. Medical humanities: to cure sometimes, to relieve often, to comfort always. Med J Aust 2005;182:5–8. 5 Alexander M. Cinemeducation: a comprehensive guide to using film in medical education. Radcliffe Medical Press Ltd, 2012. 6 Colt H, Quadrelli S, Lester F. The picture of health: medical ethics and the movies. Oxford University Press, 2011.
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The Mayo Clinic experience Neurological illness brings pathos and shock but also an element of humanism. Thus, neurological disorders and their vicissitudes—in particular, the more disabling afflictions—speak to the imagination of book and screen writers. We wish to describe our experience of these art forms within the Neurology Book and Film Club at Mayo Clinic, Rochester, USA. Our ‘club’ was initiated in 2010 by neurology residents and is supported and attended by residents, fellows and consultant staff. We hold a monthly event to discuss a book or movie with a neurological theme, suggested and voted upon by attendees (figure 1). Currently, each participant buys or loans the book. The event rotates between residents’ and consultants’ homes. The experience of cinema requires optimal display of sight and sound, and is mostly watched in a home theatre. There are many films with accurate representations of acute or chronic neurologic disease. We generate a list of questions before the event, led by a resident or consultant. Typically, we discuss artistic rendering of the disorder, the overall context in which the neurological disorder is portrayed, our clinical experience regarding similar cases, and how the book or film enhanced and appreciated empathy for the disorder. Previous books read include factual or fictional accounts of neurology. Recent examples are The Diving Bell and The Butterfly (locked-in syndrome), The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down (epilepsy and crosscultural communication), Tinkers (epilepsy), Descartes’ Error (emotion and reasoning), Funes the memorious (perfect memory) and Musicophilia (neuroanatomy and neurophysiology of music). Feature films or documentaries have included Iris (Alzheimer’s disease), The Sea Inside (physicianassisted suicide in quadriplegia), The King’s Speech (stuttering), The 68
Figure 1 A selection of books discussed at the Mayo Clinic’s Neurology Book and Film Club.
Intouchables (pain with quadriplegia, among other themes). Upcoming selections are the novels, Saul Bellow’s Mr Sammler’s Planet (blindness, alienation), John Steinbeck’s The Wayward Bus (migraine), Ian McEwan’s Saturday (neurosurgery, Huntington’s disease, intracranial haemorrhage), Tilman Spengler’s Lenin’s brain (neuropathology of a genius brain), Anthony Burgess The Doctor is Sick (brain tumour) and movies The Death of Mr Lazarescu (compassion fatigue), Declaration of War (childhood brain tumour) and The Music Never Stopped (amnesia post neurosurgery, with spared musical memory). The initial motivations for starting our club were both personal and altruistic. The event provides a social gathering on equal footing for participants; increases rapport among colleagues; and most importantly appreciation of the arts. On the altruistic side, studying the arts may improve empathy among physicians, although measured outcomes of this have not been clearly validated.1–3 Nonetheless, medical programmes increasingly incorporate humanities (and thus the arts) as an integral part of medical student education.4–6 As one example, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, an autobiography of locked-in syndrome, provided rich
discussion regarding clinical experience from intensive care and stroke colleagues, contrasted with a firstperson perspective of the author’s physical limitations, and how this could improve our clinical care and compassion. We also enjoyed the subsequent movie, which employs artistic techniques where the viewer ‘becomes’ Jean-Dominique. His fixed visual field is shown through the lens of the camera, and the act of blinking by covering and uncovering the camera lens. In another example, we read ‘Musicophilia’ by Oliver Sacks, which fostered discussion on personal musical experiences and music within neurology subspecialties, and we also listened to select items of music referenced in the book. As a group, we feel this Book and Film Club is meaningful, as it expands our intuitive as well as intellectual knowledge in neurology, and ‘rounds out’ an appreciation for disorders we encounter day to day. Anhar Hassan, Eelco FM Wijdicks Department of Neurology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, USA Correspondence to Dr Eelco F M Wijdicks, Department of Neurology, Mayo Clinic, 200 First Street SW, Rochester, MN 55905, USA; [email protected]
Contributors Both authors equally contributed to writing the article.
Pract Neurol 2014;14:68–69. doi:10.1136/practneurol-2013-000777
NEUROLOGY BOOK AND FILM CLUB Competing interests None. Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed. This paper was reviewed by Katharine Harding, Cardiff, UK.
To cite Hassan A, Wijdicks EFM. Pract Neurol 2014;14:68–69. Published Online First 23 December 2013
REFERENCES 1 Schaff PB, Isken S, Tager RM. From contemporary art to core clinical skills: observation, interpretation, and meaningmaking in a complex environment. Acad Med 2011;86:1272–6. 2 Wolters FJ, Wijnen-Meijer M. The role of poetry and prose in medical education: the pen as mighty as the scalpel? Perspect Med Educ 2012;1:43–50. 3 Wershof Schwartz A, Abramson JS, Wojnowich I, et al. Evaluating the impact of the humanities in medical
Pract Neurol 2014;14:68–69. doi:10.1136/practneurol-2013-000777
education. Mt Sinai J Med 2009;76:372–80. 4 Gordon J. Medical humanities: to cure sometimes, to relieve often, to comfort always. Med J Aust 2005;182:5–8. 5 Alexander M. Cinemeducation: a comprehensive guide to using film in medical education. Radcliffe Medical Press Ltd, 2012. 6 Colt H, Quadrelli S, Lester F. The picture of health: medical ethics and the movies. Oxford University Press, 2011.
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