The Art of Caring

Medicine Is a Performing Art

Cory Ingram, MD MS FAAHPM

B.O.A.T.I.N.G.© moved me. A short and poignant play written from the soul of a nurse practitioner to seriously ill people and the professionals caring for them has touched the lives of people across the globe. B.O.A.T.I.N.G. reinforces that medical practice IS a performing art. I contacted the playwright and nurse practitioner Jill Bixby, a colleague whom I met during my geriatrics fellowship, and asked her to share her reflections on 11 years of B.O.A.T.I.N.G.

Reflections of B.O.A.T.I.N.G.

Jill Z. Bixby, MA MS APRN CHPN

B.O.A.T.I.N.G. has accomplished what I had intended: Feeling that very deep, very sad, and overwhelming sinking emotion. It is a performing arts experience during which people develop an understanding of what it feels like to be diagnosed with a terminal illness and having to make decisions about treatment. In its 30-minute performance, this one-act reader’s play with a cast of six uses the metaphor of a non-swimmer to deliver this message. With scuba gear, life jacket, and rubber raft, this powerful piece of theater speaks to everyone at a deeply personal level about a subject that has or will have an impact on each of us.