Daytime Television
A stark domestic insight into the realities of supporting a loved one with acquired disability
Valerie
Narrative inspired by a profoundly disabled patient – insights around being a passive recipient of multiple interventions
There was a man…
Insights into the role of humour in clinical practice, and its relation to the trust placed in healthcare professionals
Mum
Searingly honest poem about a son’s changing relationship with his mother after she has a severe stroke
Precious
Fictionalized account of a tender relationship, Sita the life-long companion and carer of her frail husband
The Knot
An analysis of the impact of alcoholism and drug abuse upon the individual, their family and professionals involved
Let Go
A lyrical interpretation of patients’ feelings of being misunderstood and aching to be free
Use Your EQ not just your IQ
Rap based on the need to take an holistic approach during consultation
Desert Rose
An encounter with a young girl in Zimbabwe is pivotal in this poet’s choice of medicine as a career
A Note On Haiku
Imaginative, poetic presentations of medical conditions
Dead Meat
Expectations and practicalities in anatomy sessions jar against thoughts of a donor’s lived experience
Asthma
A lyrical interpretation of respiratory challenges
The Twilight Years
Poignant narrative about a widow’s first day as a resident in a care home
Things were rubbish until Josie came to love me
The pivotal role of dogs as companions for those living with disability
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
Depression
A personal account of depression – family and peer response and stigma around revealing mental health issues
Feeble, Precarious, Existence
A doctor’s perspective whilst dying of heart disease – empty bed and candles
Climate Transformation and Health Deterioration
Global health and socio-emotional impact on already burdened communities.
An Excerpt From The Diary Of A Patient
Personal account of patient as undisclosed medic hearing her devastating diagnosis unwittingly revealed in clinical shorthand
The Constant Carer
An insight into caring within marriage
Doctors in the Movies
A humorous comparison between historical and contemporary models of consultation and home-visit
False Hope
The complexities of diagnosis and prognosis following a sudden bereavement
Distance
Poignant musings about the student’s younger sister and potentially diminishing bonds
Touch
A dying elderly man being comforted by his wife at his hospital bedside – discussion around withholding further medical intervention
Some Kind of Miracle
Narrative from the perspective of a child about her terminally-ill mother coming home from hospital for Xmas, then remaining in remission for several years
I Can Only Hope
The desire to maintain heart-felt life-values across time
Unpredictable
‘There will always be shadows on the land ..’ the dynamic balance between health and illness
My First Patient
Soldier confronted by desperate parents giving his water bottle to their child
The Truth
After visiting a children’s cancer-ward in Malaysia – the author speculates about ‘the gateway between life and death’
My Experience of the Dissection Room
A searingly honest account of a student’s attempts to make the transition from individuals to educational cadavers
Paranoia
Figures carrying ‘secret’ health issues
Life in the Glasshouse
A terminally ill patient bodily connected to various machinery processes being on the threshold between life and death
Homonymous Hemianopia
Humorous poem about the impact of a stroke and the daily challenges of living with only seeing half of your immediate environment
Trapped
Prose from the viewpoint of young girl with her mother in consultation -unable to get word in edgewise
Disabled Mind
A teenager with a cleanliness phobia, perpetual hand-cleaning, turns inwards
Postnatal Depression
Powerful image and poem describing the agonizing physical and emotional impact of a traumatic childbirth
The Empathetic Doctor
Composite figure questioning assumptions and identification from cultural/social/gendered/racial and ageist perspectives
Face Value
Prose about a young medic feeling he had connected with a patient yet finding her case-notes revealed a very different story
Lady With Pink Hair
Young mother tragically contracting severe neurological condition during clinical treatment and deteriorating rapidly
Beyond Appearances
A student’s observation of a surgeon establishing clinical boundaries
How Can I Ever Forgive Myself?
Prose about a patient’s unbearable grief and guilt and a doctor’s support