"Doctor Jazz": Lessons that medical professionals can learn from jazz musicians

The worlds of a physician and a jazz musician seem entirely different. Various studies, however, relating the concepts behind jazz music to medical practice and education, have been published. The aim of this essayistic review is to summarize previously described concepts behind jazz music and its required artistic skills that could be translated to medicine, encouraging doctors, medical students and medical educators to see their professional environment from a different perspective.

A systematic search was conducted using PubMed, Embase, and ERIC databases, combining keywords with regard to jazz, medicine and medical education. Background information concerning jazz music and several jazz musicians was retrieved through an additional nonsystematic search using Google Scholar.

Lessons with regard to improvisational skills, both in communication with patients and in a technical context, communication skills, leadership, interprofessional teamwork and coping with errors are presented.

Doctors and medical students could learn various lessons from jazz music performance and jazz musicians. The potential and the possibilities of implementing jazz into the medical curriculum, in order to contribute to the development of professional skills and attitudes of medical students, could be explored further.