The Theatre Artiste and Medical Practitioner: The Need for MedicalComedy in Pediatric Clinic/Ward.

ABSTRACT:

Like security challenges, health management and care should not be the sole responsibility of medical practitioners alone but the collaboration of all and sundry. The need to incorporate the services of a theatre artiste in paediatric medicine should not be taken for granted. It is because encouraging comic theatrics and its attendant clown elements will facilitate smooth administration of care and healing in the paediatric ward. It is therefore the responsibility of a comedian (theatre artiste) to provide subtle jokes to divert the attention of a child from gazing at or rather being hostile to a doctor in the course of his or her duty. The use of comedy or medical clowns in paediatric clinics/wards lightens the hearts of both the medical doctor and the patients, thereby making the clinic exciting and allowing a free flow of medical attention. It is on the foregoing that this research deems it appropriate to seek synergy between the theatre artistes and medical practitioners in the provision and management of healthcare in the paediatric clinic/ward. This work employed analytical, literary, and socio-medical approaches. It also employed the relief theory of humour and Anna Freud’s theory of child psychology as critical pivots in the analysis of the topic under study. The work advocates for the interchange of ideas and synergy between the theatre artiste and medical doctor as a tool to enhance effective and efficient healthcare delivery in the paediatric clinic/ward.

Keywords: Theatre, Medicine, Artiste, Comedy, Paediatric Clinic/Ward, and Doctor