Health Experience Design 2021

Physician poet Rafael Campo states, “I think of poetry as a kind of primary care. It’s so based on the experience of community, of joining together”. Our healthcare system is based on silos of practice, training and access. For patients, they are swept into this disconnected world with a new or changing diagnosis. A new and changing landscape that is disconnected from the life they have lived. For clinicians they are thrust into a system that focuses on fixing body parts that have failed, and a sense of disconnection from the suffering that they observe daily. Current healthcare is grounded in fixing but not adept at healing. A chasm only widens when we separate ourselves from the experience of simply being human. Our interprofessional team of nurse researcher/educator, physician and e-patient will join together in a collaborative presentation designed to bridge the chasm and build community through co-creation of haiku. Why haiku? Haiku are structured in form and can easily be taught to many ages and literacy levels. Many people remember being taught simple haiku in elementary school, using three lines of five, seven, five syllables. Because the haiku form may feel familiar it is often more accessible and less daunting than other less structured ways of expression. Haiku invite observation, thoughts and emotions that are grounded in the present moment. They are micro-poems that can be said in one breath yet profoundly express many aspects of the human experience. While ambiguous, they invite connection, listening and understanding. We will describe and lead the audience through a simple, yet profound exercise in co-creation of haiku using a visual prompt (piece artwork) that evokes emotion through observation. Using the words elicited by members of the audience, a collaborative haiku will be created that expresses a deeper level of understanding of the human experience.