This presentation centers on humanity and human intelligence as essential capacities in the care of patients with serious illness. Drawing on my work as a hospice and palliative care physician and singer-songwriter, I explore how the arts serve as a medium through which patients’ values, memories, and cultural identities are recognized and respected within clinical care. In moments when illness disrupts language, roles, and certainty, attending to meaning requires distinctly human skills— presence, listening, discernment, and careful presence. This session highlights listening as a form of human intelligence and cultural competence. Through reflective clinical examples, I examine how clinicians discern when arts-based practices may support care and when restraint or silence is the most respectful response. This approach highlights a model of leadership grounded in stewardship, where clinicians hold meaning with care and presence, centering the patient’s experience in each encounter. The presentation includes a brief, non-directive listening pause using an instrumental excerpt from an original composition. Offered as a reflective space, this moment models how sound can support presence, allowing patients’ experiences and responses to unfold naturally. By framing arts and culture as relational practices, this session invites global health stakeholders to consider how cultivating human intelligence, careful presence, and cultural awareness can enhance compassionate care for people living with serious illness.

Authors:
Sydelle Ross, Veterans Affairs Healthcare System, United States

About the Presenter(s)
Dr. Sydelle Ross is a hospice and palliative care physician, singer-songwriter, and arts-in-health advocate whose work explores the integration of music, culture and reflective practice in the setting of serious illness.

Connect on Linkedin
https://www.linkedin.com/in/sydelle-ross-md-66b5b362

See this presentation on the full schedule – Friday Schedule

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