Observational Skills Workshop

The Observational Skills Workshop for first-year Yale School of Medicine (YSM) students was first conceived in 1997 by Irwin Braverman, MD, professor emeritus of dermatology, in partnership with Linda Friedlaender, senior educator for engagement, Yale Center for British Art. The goal of the Workshop is to develop dermatology trainees’ visual diagnostic skills by teaching them to identify clues to dermatologic diseases and disorders depicted in works of art at the museum. The Workshop is currently offered both to medical students as an elective organized and led by Braverman and Kalman L. Watsky, MD, clinical professor of dermatology, and to residents as a yearly museum visit to refresh their skills.

The Workshop involves a visit to the galleries of the Yale Center for British Art to inspect and discuss paintings in small groups led by senior dermatology faculty, museum educators, or experienced docents. This process involves the careful examination of paintings that have ambiguous subject matter to identify objective elements. Once the student has enumerated all of those elements, they are asked to formulate an interpretation that is consistent with that data. Following the gallery visit, the students use a similar technique in a classroom session, reviewing and describing several clinical images guided by senior dermatology faculty. Similar exercises have been adopted by more than 200 medical schools worldwide and, in addition to the objective improvement in visual diagnosis, alumni of the Workshop have also been more comfortable with addressing the inevitable uncertainties that arise in medical decision-making.

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