Patient positioning
Patient positioning illustration examples
Project goals
The goal of this project is for the students to produce either one single artwork or a series of illustrations demonstrating patient positions in the medium of the candidate’s choice. The artwork should reflect the students ability to draw realistic illustrations of the human form in various positions in a medium they have developed considerable skills in. The project aims to progress the students skills in illustrating the human form they have obtained through life drawing and advance their understanding of patient depiction in operative, radiological or clinical procedures. This may also include subjects in manipulative procedures such as in physiotherapy or osteopathy. Emphasis will be placed on accurate observation of the subject matter. Instructional impact of the illustration for educational reasons is paramount, therefore ‘call-outs’, ‘anatomy ghosting’ and ‘instructional infographics’ will begin to feature in their artwork. To develop the students medium skills, the students will compositing their illustration in Adobe Indesign and display their final artwork in the layout the images would be used in, such as a book, poster or leaflet. The project will advance the student skills in digital programs.
Project objectives
- Learn to analyse good examples of patient positioning illustrations from which to benchmark your own work. Emphasis on instructional impact.
- Put into practice the principles of depicting the human form that was taught on the foundation course.
- Develop skills learnt from previous projects in digital programs
- Learn medical/ anatomical terminology, related to your patient positioning.
- Create life drawing pencil studies of the patient, taking care to appreciate angles, perspective and the viewpoint of the onlooker.
- Investigate the situation for the patient positioning and evidence your understanding through studies and text
- Produce close up views or ghosted internal anatomy studies for your patient positioning, if this adds educational benefit.
- Watch and follow along with the online tutorial on taking linework from Illustrator to Photoshop
- Produce a patient positioning art with clear instructional or educational impact in Adobe Indesign with a clear layout for the artworks intended use.
Project Outcomes
- An anatomically accurate illustration of a patient in a position or being positioned, which shows instructional or educational impact.
- A collection of pencil life drawings of the patient, showing realism and anatomical accuracy.
- Evidence of understanding of the situation for this patient positioning.
- The ability to self assess own illustrations.
- Mastered Adobe Indesign and other digital programs
- Built upon skills in life drawing which you learnt on the foundation course.
Marking criteria. The marking criteria indicated here is a guide and grades are allocated in conjunction with the assessment criteria laid out under ‘Assessment Information – In-course Assessment Criteria’.
| Criteria | Levels of achievement | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Illustrational impact and clarity. Including skill in chosen medium (final artwork only and marked out of 10 points)
• Instructional impact of patient and procedure |
Fluent ability
9-10 points |
Confident ability
7-8 points |
Competent ability
5- 6 points |
Basic ability
3- 4 points |
Limited ability
1-2 points |
| Anatomical accuracy and exploration (final artwork only and marked out of 5 points) • Anatomical accuracy |
Excellent form and anatomical accuracy
5 points |
Extremely good form and anatomical accuracy with almost no errors
4 points |
Very good form and anatomical accuracy with a few errors
3 points |
Good form and anatomical accuracy with some errors
2 points |
Basic form and many anatomical inaccuracies
1 point |
| Presentation and attractiveness (Includes all images/sketchbooks etc. and marked out of 5 points) Presentation neatness |
Excellent
5 points |
Extremely good
4 points |
Very good
3 points |
Good
2 points |
Basic
1 point |
| Observational and exploratory quality of the collection of illustrations. (Includes all images/sketchbooks etc. and marked out of 5 points) • Observational skill |
Fluent ability
5 points |
Confident ability
4 points |
Competent ability
3 points |
Basic ability
2 points |
Limited ability
1 point |
| Level achieved from total points: This project is marked on the four categories listed above. Once points are assigned to each category they are added up and a grade is given depending on the total points. |
Distinction (20 – 25 points) | Credit (19 – 15 points) | High Pass (10 – 14 points | Pass (5 – 9 points) | Pass with Amends/ Referred for re-submission (1 – 4 points) |
What to I need to bring to class?
- First step in initial seminars: Discuss with the supervisors and review good examples of patient positioning illustrations to devise some ideas of a patient positioning procedure you would like to illustrate. You may like to link this project to your surgical sequence or clinical appearance. Read about the situation in which this patient would be positioned and the procedure and make notes to fully understand the reasons and how this affects the patient. Make initial accurate and interpretive sketches, and form a clear understanding of the what happens to the underlying anatomy or what part of the patient can be studied because of the position. Obtain initial feedback on your sketches from your supervisor. To develop your medium skills there is an online tutorial on layout in Adobe indesign.
- Homework
- Form: Life drawing pencil studies of your patient in all the necessary views taking special care to appreciate angles, perspective and the viewpoint of the onlooker. Through this process you may discover an optimum angle you had not first appreciated.
- Exploration: Produce close up views or ghosted internal anatomy pencil or pen and ink studies which may assist. Evidence your understanding of the patient position and how they are positioned.
- Medium development: Scan in one of your life drawing pencil studies and follow along with the online tutorial on illustrating in Adobe illustrator and using the line work in Adobe Photoshop.
- Coursework draft: Produced work-in-progress illustrations of the patient position/steps/process. This can be in either pencil or in the final medium of your choice (Photoshop or Illustrator).Composite all your draft illustrations into Adobe Indesign and produce a layout that your images would be used in, such as for a book, poster, leaflet etc. Add draft text.
- Homework
- Second step is the interim design presentation: You present your finished life drawing studies of the patient, and finished studies showing your have fully understood the anatomy and procedure. Present a work-in-progress illustration of your final artwork. Supervisor and peer review of the work-in-progress will provide formative feedback to produce your final version.
- Homework for the next seminar:
- Incorporate any feedback received on the homework into your work and add final artwork to portfolio ready for next assessment. This work will not be marked independently at assessment, but will form part of the observation and exploratory section of the marking criteria.
- Complete the illustration of the patient based on feedback at the seminar. Present again at following seminar for final feedback.
- Homework for the next seminar:
- Final step is the final presentation: Before submitting to assessment you must have it checked by the supervisor at seminars or on a designated tutoring day via email and telephone. In assessment your work will be marked according to the marking criteria of that project. You will receive a detailed feedback form after assessment.
- Please note: when you are drawing from a patient, it is each student’s responsibility to gain the relevant consents. Further information may be found via the ‘National Guidelines’ link on the ‘Rules and Regulations’ page of this website.
What do I need to bring to assessment?
You must bring:
-
- The final patient positioning artwork, mounted and labelled.
- Homework artworks which include all studies and the pencil drawings of the patient.
- Make sure all artwork is well presented, neat and labelled.
