Humanities resources to support healthcare professionals and patients
You have a big heart, said Dr Broadbent, turning a compliment into a fatal condition. Poem by Olive M Ritch, 2018. Commentary An unfortunate pun. A nice example of the confusions inherent in communicating with patients. Orcadian poet, Olive M. Ritch has written a number of poems on medical themes, and is a course tutor Read More …
I had overestimated the size of the square in the middle of town by quite a lot. But it was still big, more than big enough for a hospital. Two operating theatres, one of them in a truck! an emergency room and maybe eighty beds? We’d have to take care of the cars of Read More …
“Know him,” the Neurosurgeon said, as we Huddled expectantly, our white coats gleaming. Armed with newly honed skills in taking a history We enquired about headache and vomiting. “No, really know him,” the Consultant insisted, although we did not understand. “Listen without assuming, discover who he is and never suppose what his passions are or Read More …
One thing you’re paid in cash for As a junior doctor Is filling in forms for the crematorium Finally, time To study the file, to catalogue Dying of 1a, 1b, exacerbated by c And wish you knew this all before You summarise, we worked hard But death worked harder Sometimes, the more you like them Read More …
The use of force. William Carlos Williams. The child was fairly eating me up with her cold, steady eyes and no expression to her face whatever. But her face was flushed, she was breathing rapidly, and I realized that she had a high fever. She had magnificent blonde hair, in profusion. One of those picture Read More …
When breath becomes air. It was my primary care doctor, calling with the chest X-ray result: my lungs, instead of being clear, looked blurry, as if the camera aperture had been left open too long. The doctor said she wasn’t sure what that meant. She likely knew what it meant. I knew. Lucy picked me Read More …
First, I had mastered the practical basis of my profession, the art and craft of Medicine, which begins and develops only after a man leaves University and Hospital. Secondly, I had endured an extremely severe training and initiation: the very best I could have had. It not only made one exact, punctual, and methodical; but Read More …
The last 1000 days, Molly Case Commentary As we slowly make the shift to practise realistic medicine, where “patients are at the centre of decision making”, it’s more important now to understand what’s truly important to those who are at the receiving end of medical care. The poem The last 1000 days is written in a language Read More …
Dealing with death, Miguel Torga Coimbra, 10 December 1958 Twenty-five years now that I’ve been battling death professionally, and I feel more incapable than ever of understanding and accepting it. Halfway between the peasant in the pure state and pure intellect, when death comes calling I find neither the peace of the credulous person who Read More …
The secret doctor. When I was still a core trainee, I looked at a chest x-ray for less than ten seconds, closed it and I wrote: ‘CXR – no evidence of pneumonia’. I was on-call and reviewing an elderly lady with multiple co-morbidities who the FY1 was worried about. Her septic screen had returned a Read More …