Lizzie Cain
He is a truly ugly beast
Hugely fat, with rotted teeth like crooked tombstones
And blood that is sickly sweet.
Mrs Rose has diabetes, the first appointment today
She is a prompt, jolly lady in a pleated skirt
It came on most unexpectedly but she controls it very well
No longer does she pee a lot or get the extreme thirst.
M.S. is next on the list
She is pale, waxy and thin
Her hair is lank, her voice a whine
Her face expressionless, she will not laugh, will not grin.
Paul is 44 and has suffered with MS for a year
He is upbeat and optimistic – and does not let it bother him much
Sport is his passion, he goes to the gym and swims a lot
He gave up work though, because he can’t build houses whilst using a crutch.
We are running late and psoriasis is waiting
Fiery and aggressive, always ready to explode
Children turn away when they pass her in the street
Red raw and scaly – feet, arms, cheeks and nose.
Lisa is pregnant, she already feels fat and self conscious
Her skin is playing up, another thing she really doesn’t need
She is timid and gentle, anxious about the birth
She has come today ‘to see if the doctor can do something please’.
I imagine what disease should look like before I see the patient
But people never resemble my disillusioned thoughts
They are like me, you, my mum and dad, and have lives to live
They are just like everyone I meet – no differences at all of course!
Whilst doing my primary care attachment I realised that, sitting in the consultation room before the patient came in, I had already conjured up an image of what they looked like in my mind. That picture was based on what medical condition they had, as described on the computer which I looked at before seeing them.
Every time they were completely unrelated to what I had imagined them to be like. This highlighted to me how easy it is to make assumptions about somebody with information that makes up a mere fragment of that person and their life.
A cliche, I know, but it is so important to remember that as a future doctor we are dealing with people and not their disease alone. I hope that my poem hints at this.
This poem really opened up my eyes the the stigma that diseases have and the preconceptions everyone makes up in their own mind of the type of people that suffer from it. But at the end of the day anyone can suffer rom any disease, it is not always a certain type of person so it’s important to think of the person as an individual and not as only the disease.
A poignant reminder that it is difficult to avoid having pre-conceived ideas about patients. I found this daily as a HCA when looking down the handover sheet at 7am : a long list of co-morbidities painting a vivid picture of patients who, when you finally meet them, turn out to be completely different from your expectations. It’s important doctors are aware of this so we don’t stereotype people or act in a prejudiced way when treating them. We spend so much time studying disease in textbooks, cadavers and under the microscope that we forget who could be on the other side of the illness: as the penultimate line of the poem states, *anybody* could be – with their own worries, character quirks, likes, dislikes and challenges. From this, you could say there are 7.6 billion ways to experience illness, each as valid as the next.
This poem captures the importance of treating patients holistically and engaging with the whole person rather than simply defining patients by their disease. I think the author has summed this concept up beautifully.
This reminds us to always treat a patient as a person and not defining them by their disease or condition. I think the poem highlights well how every patient is an individual with their own personality and life.
This made me understand why patients feel so passionately about being seen as a whole person and not a disease on paper. I think it is important that all health care professionals recognise these preconceived ideas about patients and question why we think these. The differences in the attitudes of the paragraphs potentially hint to how health care professionals may be less empathetic towards patients with certain attitudes and conditions. The poem also shows how patients aren’t that different from yourself and one day you could be on the other side of the table.
This poem is an eye-opener. It really does cause you to reflect on and confront your own prejudices and stereotypes regarding certain diseases and their stigma’s. I think it is a poem we can all relate to when we think about particular illnesses. The poem highlights the importance of maintaining a non-judgemental approach to care and instead focus more holistically on the individual and their personal needs. It reminds us of the importance to remember everyone has the potential to be a patient and everyone most likely will at some point, and they remain people, rather than diseases or illnesses
It is a profound piece of poetry that brings to light stigma surrounding diseases, which can consequently affect quality of care-given by healthcare professionals. This stigma may be about who’s most likely to suffer from the disease and whether it is “self-inflicted”. For instance, with diabetes most people may instinctively think about Type 2 Diabetes and look for lifestyle factors e.g. dietary causes. Stigma may also concern the extent to which a disease affects an individual. It is important to acknowledge not everyone will experience the same symptoms or to the same degree. This highlights uncertainty in medicine as an illness may not always present itself in one way for everyone, thus patient-centred care is vital. Furthermore, we must realise everyone has a story and their diseases do not define them or dictate their life. People can defy expectations and it is not in the best interest of the patient to enter a consultation having already decided how this person is going to be and how to do deal with them as every individual has different needs and such an attitude does not facilitate shared-decision making. It also raises the issue of unconscious bias. We are all guilty of it but need to be aware of how it can interfere with patient care in order to actively reduce and overcome it. Overall, this poem shows the importance of having an open-mind and practicing unprejudiced medicine.
This poem enlightened me to the stigmas surrounding diseases and preconceptions one may have when reading the patients notes before actually meeting them. We have ideas of what a person may look like or how they may behave according to the disease that they have when in actual fact each person is unique and we should strive to treat them as an individual. This poem has influenced me to try and avoid any biases I may have before meeting a patient and to treat the patient as a person and not as their disease. This poem personifies the diseases which emphasises how we sometimes treat someone as their disease and not as a person. The poem then shows how the person is separate from their disease and is entirely opposite to the preconceived biases that the disease may foreshadow. I really enjoyed reading this poem as it simply highlights these issues in medicine and helps to inspire you to think differently.