The Sick Child: Edvard, empathy and expertise

Can physicians discover empathy and derive clinical expertise from art? Let’s try with The Sick Child by Edvard Munch. Learning objectives 1. Utilise The Sick Child to try and discover empathy 2. Reflect on the meaning of clinical expertise 3. Consider how experiences of illness can be expressed through art Edvard Munch (1863-1944) is perhaps […]

Learning failure for doctors: The Kobayashi Maru simulation in medicine

Report to Starfleet medical immediately. Learning objectives 1. Understand the nature of the Kobayashi Maru simulation 2. Consider how experiencing no-win situations could be useful for doctors 3. Reflect on your own experiences of failure and whether you could have anticipated your feelings In arguably the best Star Trek film we have perhaps one of […]

The medical student or the optimist: the best of all possible chocolate biscuits and how suffering in healthcare became normal

What’s the worst thing you’ve ever experienced as a doctor? Has anything in the world of healthcare come as a total shock? Do you question if things could be made better or does everything happen for a reason as part of some divine masterplan? Candide: or, The Optimist is a satirical work written by Voltaire […]

The gatekeeper and the wizard: fan fiction

Wizards aren’t just characters of a mysterious nature sometimes found in Middle-Earth. They are also helpful in depicting the relationship between primary and secondary care doctors. Mathers and Hodkgin wrote such an article in 1989 and there have been a few sequels published since. Although the original paper is nearly 30 years old, it is […]

Don’t blame it on Baltasar

As The Jacksons famously said, “don’t blame it on the sunshine, don’t blame it on the moonlight, don’t blame it on good times, blame it on the boogie“. Baltasar Gracián (1601-1658), a Spanish Jesuit and philosopher would have probably agreed with the sentiment. Learning objectives 1. Introduce Baltasar Gracián to those unfamiliar to his works 2. […]

Marcus Aurelius: reflection good enough for an emperor but is it good enough for medicine?

Reflection is an important part of training, appraisal and revalidation for doctors based in the UK. However, for many doctors the very thought of reflection can cause feelings of frustration, non-engagement or even rejection. Where did we go wrong? Learning objectives 1. Consider the definition of reflection used in medicine 2. Understand how reflection can […]