I Fixed his Clock
Pointillism used to consider eating disorders in the elderly
Acupuncture and chronic pain relief
Alternative medicines and debilitating invisible illness
Patterns of Anxiety
Mental health issues across lockdowns
Tackling Menstruation Stigma
‘Natural’ bodily functions and Taboos
Disconnected
The complexities of remote consultations
The Shadowed Carer
The huge contribution of home-carers to society and their well-being is highlighted during a GP consultation
Curiosity
A student’s insight into the sensitive dialogue within consultation places due weight on the gifts of genuine authentic connection in healthcare
Human to Human
The in-the-moment challenges of juggling clinical and individual readings of a patient whilst developing clinical insights and consultation skills
The chair-shaped space
Triangulating perspectives in GP consultations
The Barrier of Medical Jargon
A plea for less clinical terminology used in consultations to build a more participatory relationship between clinicians and patients
To Act in the Best Interests of the Patient
The stressful impact of medical consultations on doctors.
Living with Genetic Diseases
Living with genetic conditions: identity and self-worth through the metaphor of a child’s experience of society and lack of agency
Under the Iceberg
Individual barriers to seeking clinical help
Loss
The unexpected emotional impact of a family doctor’s concern for a man whose wife died of cancer
Thirst
Poem about author’s initial denial of diabetes
CANCER?
A medical student’s mixed response to his mother’s suspected cancer diagnosis
The Appearance of Disease
A student visualises patients from their medical notes pre-consultation
Alive
‘The miracle of life is not to live – but to be alive’: the doctor’s role in supporting patients to address self-depleting patterns
The Struggle
The tension between the will to thrive and a body cumulatively challenged by ill-health
Life-Line
A GP provides timely support to a patient with addiction
The Future
An emergency hospitalization where the patient is unaware of gravity of her condition
A Real Person Too
A young addict unexpectedly finds understanding from the medical profession
Eat Less
The notion that obesity is a self-inflicted is scrutinized after a home visit.
Crisis-Point
A home-visit to elderly man provides an unexpected chink of connection through spirituality
Mark
A wheel-chair user’s lived experience is ignored by her GP while a man-to-man chat ensues with her companion
Paint my Canvas
A student chooses to minutely absorb and process a deeply shared patient experience around terminal illness using poetry as method of learning from this privileged gift
Homonymous Hemianopia
Humorous poem about the impact of a stroke and the daily challenges of living with only seeing half of your immediate environment
Face Value
Prose about a young medic feeling he had connected with a patient yet finding her case-notes revealed a very different story
How Can I Ever Forgive Myself?
Prose about a patient’s unbearable grief and guilt and a doctor’s support
Practise What You Preach
The hypocrisy of an authoritarian doctor with life-style issues lecturing on well-being
Real Symptoms
A challenging consultation with a dissatisfied, distraught patient
Waking
Poignant narrative about a wife waking up next to frail and incapacitated husband
Life?
Concern regarding holistic care – review of a cocktail of medications and patient’s well-being and happiness in general
Pants
Poem about ‘strange privileges’ of doctors from the banal to the poignant clinical episodes
Chasing the Bismarck
A narrative inspired by a sailor-patient’s adventures: then creative writing in medicine under scrutiny
Tolerant Farmer
A stoic farmer reluctant to visit his G.P.
The Caring Doctor
Black humour around a doctor’s cynical outlook
The Snowman
Doctor-snowman made in response to wishes of a terminally-ill patient on a home-visit
Targets
Humorous response to government guidelines in general practice
Hearts Connect
‘Meeting’ the patient in an authentic way – in a memorable consultation
Waiting Rooms
The surgery waiting room – exploring the body language of vulnerability
Whole Person Care
A challenge to holism and creativity within medical education.