Humanities resources to support healthcare professionals and patients
So beautiful … Oh! The lovebirds are eating … But a heart attack is gruesome, bringing intimations of mortality to many, and death itself to others. In our softer age, anatomy as art seems less shocking than Polly Morgan’s taxidermy. Her arresting art has been highly successful though. Perhaps the unexpected has unusual power to Read More …
You have a big heart, said Dr Broadbent, turning a compliment into a fatal condition. Poem by Olive M Ritch, 2018. Commentary An unfortunate pun. A nice example of the confusions inherent in communicating with patients. Orcadian poet, Olive M. Ritch has written a number of poems on medical themes, and is a course tutor Read More …
Hollie McNish. So no more will I sit on these cold toilet lids No matter how embarrassed I feel as she sips Because in this country of billboards, covered in tits I think we should try to get used to this Commentary A rattling, lilting, lyrical rant at the absurdity of society’s contradictory attitudes to Read More …
I had overestimated the size of the square in the middle of town by quite a lot. But it was still big, more than big enough for a hospital. Two operating theatres, one of them in a truck! an emergency room and maybe eighty beds? We’d have to take care of the cars of Read More …
“Know him,” the Neurosurgeon said, as we Huddled expectantly, our white coats gleaming. Armed with newly honed skills in taking a history We enquired about headache and vomiting. “No, really know him,” the Consultant insisted, although we did not understand. “Listen without assuming, discover who he is and never suppose what his passions are or Read More …
I this day began to feel unaccountable alarm of unexpected evil: a little heat in the members of my body sacred to Cupid, very like a symptom of that distemper with which Venus, when cross, takes it into her head to plague her votaries. But then I have no risks. I have been with no Read More …
One thing you’re paid in cash for As a junior doctor Is filling in forms for the crematorium Finally, time To study the file, to catalogue Dying of 1a, 1b, exacerbated by c And wish you knew this all before You summarise, we worked hard But death worked harder Sometimes, the more you like them Read More …
The use of force. William Carlos Williams. The child was fairly eating me up with her cold, steady eyes and no expression to her face whatever. But her face was flushed, she was breathing rapidly, and I realized that she had a high fever. She had magnificent blonde hair, in profusion. One of those picture Read More …
William Carlos Williams. The baby is in a smother of sheets and crumpled blankets. Its left eye closed, its right partly opened. It emits a soft whining cry continuously at every breath. It can’t be more than a few weeks old. Will it live? It is the mother: a great tender-eyed blonde. Great full breasts. Read More …
The demonstration in Seattle 1960-3 that the new technique of dialysis could prolong the lives of patients with end stage renal disease led to a crisis. Both of provision – it was expensive – and ethical. Who should receive this scarce treatment? An age range of 18-45 was considered at first in Seattle, but soon Read More …