Following last year’s success, a second cohort of medicine students have completed Music for Health, an innovative elective that saw the future doctors perform at the FMC, early childhood centres and the Flinders Tav.

The topic falls within the Personal and Professional Development Curriculum coordinated by Dr Maxine Moore at Flinders University’s College of Medicine and Public Health.

In addition to learning how music is used in hospitals to meet clinical goals and provide an environment that promotes wellbeing, this year students were required to form small ensembles and participate in the vibrant live music program that is run by Arts in Health at Flinders Medical Centre.

The students also performed at the FMC Community Child Care Centre and Eden Hills Kindergarten, strengthening community links that were established in the program’s inaugural year.

On Friday 31 May, the 2019 Music for Health elective culminated with a final performance at the Flinders Tavern involving all thirteen students who collectively performed under the name Fallopian Tunes. The atmosphere was electric as many other medical students joined the audience to support their peers.

For more than 2000 years the therapeutic power of music has been appreciated by cultures all over the world.

The importance of Medical Humanities is well recognised by leading medical schools including Harvard, Yale and Durham.

A 2018 study further supports the idea that exposure to humanities, including music, potentially benefits medicine students by reducing burnout and developing empathy.

Dr. Amy Wyatt of the College of Medicine and Public Health and Dr. Alice Orchard of the College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences have been overwhelmed by the positive feedback received from students, staff and the community on the initiative and grateful to Arts in Health. “We thank Sally Francis, Ali Durham and Heather Frahn from Arts in Health for collaborating on this project and look forward to developing this partnership in future years.”

See also previous article on the inaugural 2018 course.