Abstract

Short paper, theme: Educations and Societies: Labs, networks and 3D immersive telepresence
Venue: CCCB, date: June 15

Keywords: Public health, health equity, medical education, design in healthcare, collaboration

Canadian healthcare education and practice are grounded in structures of coloniality, oppression, heteropatriarchy and various “-isms”. Multi-faceted approaches are needed to improve existing health disparities for different populations. Through CHIME, stakeholders can come together and explore healthcare problems, test potential solutions and propose equitable alternatives to the status quo.

In Canada, healthcare and health professions education, in particular medical education, are grounded in structures of coloniality, oppression, heteropatriarchy and a variety of “-isms” (racism, sexism, ableism, classism). Like in other parts of the world, deep-rooted and enduring health disparities exist for many different groups. Change is needed urgently.

Multi-faceted approaches are required to achieve the required changes at both the upstream level– training new generations of physicians, as well as at mid- and downstream levels– providing equitable access to care and services needed to alleviate current health burdens faced by marginalized populations. To help address this challenge, we have conceived an approach that combines community collaboration, medical education, arts, humanities, and design. CHIME Design Lab aims to be a physical and social space where a wide range of stakeholders–members of marginalized groups, professionals from a variety of domains in and outside healthcare, as well as students and trainees, and other interested members of the general public– can together creatively and safely explore healthcare problems, test potential solutions and propose equitable, just alternatives to the status quo.

• Savita Rani is a physician by training and artist by spirit. She is a Desi woman and a first-generation immigrant settler in Canada. She is a resident physician in Public Health and Preventive Medicine at University of Saskatchewan, and has a Master of Public Health from Queen’s University. Savita is the current Vice-President of the Canadian Association for Health Humanities. She has a special interest in bringing arts and humanities into medical education and public health as tools for practice, teaching, learning and reflection. Her poetry, writing and artwork have been published in international health humanities journals including Ars Medica, Pulse, and Intima: a Journal of Narrative Medicine. https://savitarani.wixsite.com/creative
• Pamela Brett-MacLean is an associate professor in Psychiatry at the University of Alberta, Canada. She is director of the Arts & Humanities in Health & Medicine (AHHM) program in the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry.
• Patrick von Hauff is a professional designer in health professions education at the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry at the University of Alberta, Canada. He is committed to design as a crucial and universal means of participation in society.
• Lori Hanson is an associate professor in Community Health & Epidemiology at the University of Saskatchewan, Canada. Her research and teaching focus on issues related to the political economy of health that arises through community organizing, locally and globally.