Dr Norman Swan, presenter of ABC Radio National’s Health Report, will launch a fascinating new report co-funded by the Australia Council into the important role of creativity and the creative occupations in healthcare this Tuesday, 7 October.
The healthcare system exists in a world with ever increasing demands for information. And as CCI's new study, Getting Creative in Healthcare demonstrates, it is increasingly critical that the sector is able to effectively harness the power of information and communication technologies.
The report, co-authored by Janet Pagan, Peter Higgs and Stuart Cunningham, found that creative expertise and services are not just an integral part of healthcare - they are also helping the sector to address its complex challenges. CCI’s leading-edge research highlights the ways in which our creative human capacity is taking on an increasingly fundamental role in helping the healthcare system to adapt and become more efficient, while delivering better quality outcomes for the community.
The Centre has been mapping the growth of creative professionals in the economy generally and has demonstrated there are now more 'creatives' outside the creative industries than there are employed within them – healthcare is but one example. These
analyses show that modern societies like Australia are not only information-intense - they increasingly need the uniquely innovative approaches of 'creatives' in all sectors.
This story of creatives and the creative occupations – of their presence in, and contribution to, sectors like healthcare - is one rarely told before. For more information on this research visit the CCI project Creative Resources as Inputs to the Health Sector.
Click here to download the full text of the report Getting creative in healthcare: the contribution of creative activities to Australian healthcare (PDF)