Heart in Your Hands
Charlotte Lyon-Dean
I wanted to visualise how patients give their trust and vulnerabilities to doctors by drawing a patient holding their heart in their hands as if they were offering it to an unseen doctor. I chose the heart, as it is where many believe the soul resides, so I chose to represent a patient’s individuality and vulnerability as a vibrantly coloured heart. Even though I was truly inspired by just the one patient, I wanted the hands of the patient in my piece to be non-descript, and represent all the patients I had seen, and as such, the identification tag on the wrist is left blank. I wanted the heart; as the main symbol of trust in my piece, to stand out against the hands, so whilst the heart is bright, I have coloured the hands in greyscale.
I selected the recipient of the heart to be from the perspective of the viewer, as that is where the receiver of a patient’s story would be and chose the receiver to be unknown so that it could apply to anyone that sees the piece.
Through depicting the trust patients have when sharing their lives, I also wished to show the respect and care we must show in return, as we are given such a high privilege as both medical students and doctors to be in such a position of trust.
Commendation and Recognition of Excellence for Outstanding Creative Work
This piece of work really speaks to me as in my clinical contact, I too was stuck by how patients trust and open up to their doctors and I felt very privileged as a medical student to be part of that. The red heart really stands out against the hands, making the work both eye catching and thought provoking; the trust and relationship between a doctor and a patient is a very special thing.
This piece caught my eye due to the simple design and intricate drawing. The ideas behind the artwork are also very thought-provoking and reminded me of feelings I’ve had since starting medical school. As a doctor you have great responsibility and patients put their faith in your knowledge and expertise. This can be very daunting, especially as a first year student with overwhelming amounts of new information to learn. I hope that by the time I qualify I will feel confident enough to look after my patients and protect the sensitive information they entrust to me.
This piece of work is very simple, and yet conveys a huge amount of what being a doctor is – it’s the worry that you won’t ever be good enough, or know enough to warrant the trust that patients put in you. That you won’t ever be deserving of the stories they share with you, of their secrets and fears, because there will always be someone who would be able to help them better than you can. But it also shows that actually, when the time is right, you will be a good doctor and you will be deserving of the trust a patient places in you.
I think the symbolism and details in this piece are fantastic: to me, the way that the heart is displayed in an anatomical, lifelike way highlights the fact that this opening up is in a medical context. Also, the rawness of the anatomy emphasises to me how exposing for patients opening up to clinicians can be, and how privileged doctors are to have this trust placed in them by patients. I like the fact that the patient is handing the heart to an ‘unseen doctor’ – this reminds me of how little doctors and patients know each other initially, and how important it for doctors to build rapport with their patients to make them feel more at ease, and allow more trust to be built. A very thought-provoking piece!
This piece reveals the true nature of how, as a construct, medical professionals have built relationships with the people. It demonstrates the importance of maintaining that relationship. The drawing of the heart is an excellent choice to display the vulnerability. The heart has been used throughout time to indicate the centre of one’s soul, so it does an excellent job in reflecting that.
Furthermore the contrast in colour usage between the hands and the heart, highlights the equality between all. This is especially highlighted by the artist’s choice of leaving the identification tag blank. The finishing touch of having the hands pointing out towards the viewer, expresses how the patient is quite literally ‘pouring their heart out’ towards the viewer.
I wholeheartedly agree with what this piece is trying to convey. The medical profession is one of the the most trusted professions according to public opinion, which is shown when patients reveal sensitive information to doctors who are mere strangers.
This is represented brilliantly in the the art piece where the patient offers their heart to the viewer (us). This is an immense privilege that healthcare professionals have, and it is up to us (as healthcare professionals) on how we utilise this privilege for the benefit of the patient.
This piece stood out to me as it reminded me of my first GP placement. The patient was very open and vulnerable and shared with us some of their most difficult experiences which I found extrememly moving. The trust this patient placed in us as a group was incredible and it was a great privilege to listen to and talk to them.
In the medical profession you are a support sytem for all patients which is why the blank identification tag on the wrist is a really effective part of the art work.
This piece stood out to me as it conveys a great deal in one simple but detailed artwork. During my clinical placement I saw how patients placed their full trust in the doctor and opened up to show their vulnerabilities. The brightness of the heart compared with the non-descript grey hands shows that despite the number of patients a doctor sees throughout their career their hearts and vulnerabilities are all unique and personal to them. The heart is something vital to the body and the trust that it represents is essential to the doctor-patient relationship. The fact that the heart is being given to an ‘unseen doctor’ shows how little the patient and doctor know each other and what a privileged position healthcare professionals are in to have such trust.
The art piece really shows how much trust a patient really put into us and if you build that doctor patient relationship the patients will trust you regardlessly and tell you everything . The artist has really thought about the use of colour as well as by not colouring the hands has allowed to us to show how this is not just one patient but applies to most patient and by using greyscale allows the heart to be bright as that is the most eye catching part of the art pice but also most important organ in the body to shows how they trust us with everything and how much responsibility we have as doctors.
This piece attracted my interest because it is a visual representation of how trusting patient-doctor relationships can be. I think the drawing of the patient’s heart physically being in their hands depicts their state of vulnerability in front of their doctors as they open up and share intimate details about themselves to doctors. This piece also reminded me of my GP placement the other week where we had a patient come and talk to us, and in doing so, shared very personal details about her family life with us (medical students) which took me by surprise as I was not expecting her to hold us to that level of responsibility/trust as medical students. Thus, this shows how respected and trusted doctors and medical students are as patients will open up to you. This also highlights the level of responsibility there is in the medical profession.
This piece attracted my interest because it is a visual representation of how trusting patient-doctor relationships can be. I think the drawing of the patient’s heart physically being in their hands depicts their state of vulnerability in front of their doctors as they open up and share intimate details about themselves to doctors. This piece also reminded me of my GP placement the other week where we had a patient come and talk to us, and in doing so, shared very personal details about her family life with us (medical students) which took me by surprise as I was not expecting her to hold us to that level of responsibility/trust as medical students. Thus, this shows how respected and trusted doctors and medical students are as patients will open up to you. This also highlights the level of responsibility there is in the medical profession.
This piece captured my eye for a few reasons.
1. It is beautifully drawn, the art work itself is gorgeous
2. I speaks volume on the trust that the patient give their doctors. Putting the their heart into the doctors hands shows how vulnerable the patient is
3. It can also show the emotions of the family of the patient, they love the patient dearly and is putting that into the doctors care
This piece perfectly captures the level of trust patients put into doctors each day and the privilege that we, as medical students and future doctors, have to be in such a position where patients feel able to share intimate details with us and allow us to be with them in their darkest hour. The raw, anatomical imagery of a vital organ being offered so willingly represents the level of vulnerability and exposure patients can undergo when sharing information with health care professionals. This reminds me of a patient I met with my group in our first primary care placement; she held medical students in such high regard and shared deeply personal information that she had not previously disclosed to her GP. I was in awe of the candidness with which she spoke and this really highlighted how fortunate we were to be allowed into that consultation. The use of grey, non-identifiable hands implies the diversity of patients who we will end up meeting and caring for across our medical career. The contrast between the bright red of the heart and the grey of the hands further reinforces the individuality of each patient, their conditions and their needs. Overall, this piece reflects the vulnerability that patients can feel in healthcare and serves to remind us to be grateful that they put their trust in us.
I liked how this artwork used the literal heart to convey the concept of one’s figurative heart or soul. As a medic, we’re privy to people’s most vulnerable moments and feelings, and it is a role we must treat with respect and care. The artwork conveys this concept well.
The heart being in colour further emphasised that the patients were the centre of the story, rather than the medical professional. We’re there to support more than anything.
The piece lends itself to multiple interpretations. Ostensibly, it shows a patient cradling a heart, as though presenting it. However, we do not know the transactional nature of how this came to be. Is the heart their own, or have they received it? Is the heart a physical object, potentially representing a transplant, or a representation of the spirit of either the holder or another? The colour scheme presents ambiguity as to whether the patient is alive or has passed. The colouring also reflects “the girl in the red coat” of Schindler’s List, widely seen as representing humanity and innocence, and potentially trust, themes which are present in all possible interpretations of the work.
I find this piece very moving as it captures the unique trust and connection present in a good doctor-patient relationship, as well as the immense privilege doctors have to be trusted by patients with something as important as their heart. The drawing can be interpreted in two ways: a patient offering their heart to the doctor, as in sharing a deep secret or vulnerability they may not tell someone else, or a doctor holding the heart of a patient in their hands, reflecting the impact doctors have on a patients life not only physically but emotionally as well. The artist has used colour only in the heart to draw focus, but intentionally left the hands grey to show that this is not the story of just one patient. Overall, this drawing shows the trust patients have in doctors to be truly vulnerable.
I really love this piece of art as it immediately tells you so much about the doctor-patient relationship just by glancing at the image. I feel the main story I can take from this image is that the patient opens up fully to the doctor, irrespective of how long they have known the doctor for. This is such a special relationship for the doctor to build, as patients will tell you things they have never told anyone else in their life just because you are the person they trust with all of their health and personal needs. The fact that the identification tag on the left hand is blank is very powerful as it shows that this isn’t just one patient that opened up to the doctor, but almost all patients will put their trust and their life in a doctors hand. The heart is a perfect choice to place in the patients hands, as this is where the soul of the body resides, and is one of the most important organs in the body, showing that the patients completely unload everything on the doctor, including their deepest secrets and total trust. The greyscale on the hands and then the bright red heart makes it stand out, and I feel has a very powerful effect.
The detail in this drawing is incredible! The artist has used techniques which has made the heart look very delicate. This really helps to symbolise how delicate a patient’s feelings are and the fact that they feel comfortable enough to trust the doctor with this emphasises the unique and special connection which can be formed between a doctor and patient.
This piece caught my eye because of the contrast between the heart and the rest of the drawing. It draws attention to the heart which I think symbolises how important the heart is. In this piece, the heart can be taken as both literal and metaphorical. Literally, patients do allow doctors to see and touch their actual hearts during surgery. This shows that patients have such a high level of trust in doctors as to literally put their lives, their hearts, in doctors hands. However, even more impactful is viewing the heart as a metaphor for the patient opening up to doctors about things they view as so important and so private that the heart is used to represent them. This again shows the staggering level of trust that patients have in their doctors, not just in the sense that the patient trusts the doctor as a medical professional as they may do in surgery, but also that the patient trusts the doctor as a person enough to open up to them. Ultimately, this piece shows the privilege that doctors carry as these uniquely trusted members of society, as well as the balance of scientific knowledge, represented by the anatomical drawing of the heart, but also the emotional aspect of being a doctor and comforting and being there for patients.
This particular work of art caught my attention due to the eye catching contrast, the vibrant red heart against the shadowed grey hands of a patient. The work appears to show a patient holding their heart in their hands. This could have a range of meanings such as the patient putting their lives in their doctors hands or it could show how central the heart is to human life as it is placed in the centre of the canvas. I think this represents the doctor-patient relationship and how much patients trust their doctors and other medical professionals with their care and what a privilege being in the profession is.
This is a very beautiful piece of art. The two hands carefully holding the hard conveyed to me the intimate relationship between carer and patient. I feel the heart, a symbol of love and emotion, represents hope in an otherwise unsettling setting. I feel that the colour also emphasises the importance of compassion in a healthcare setting, with the patient being the focus at all times.