PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Haidet, Paul
TI  - Jazz and the ‘Art’ of Medicine: Improvisation in the Medical Encounter
AID  - 10.1370/afm.624
DP  - 2007 Mar 01
TA  - The Annals of Family Medicine
PG  - 164--169
VI  - 5
IP  - 2
4099  - http://www.annfammed.org/content/5/2/164.short
4100  - http://www.annfammed.org/content/5/2/164.full
SO  - Ann Fam Med2007 Mar 01; 5
AB  - Improvisation is an important aspect of patient-physician communication. It is also a defining feature of jazz music performance. This essay uses examples from jazz to illustrate principles of improvisation that relate to an individual communication act (ie, building space into one’s communication), a physician’s communicative style (ie, developing one’s voice), and the communicative process of the medical encounter (ie, achieving ensemble). At all 3 levels, the traditions of jazz improvisation can inform efforts to research and teach medical interviewing by fostering a contextualized view of patient-physician communication. Annals Journal Club selection—see inside back cover or http://www.annfammed.org/AJC/.