here’s no appointments, and I’ve waited weeks, To show you my piles, and rash on my cheeks, I’ve also had chest pains, for the last year, And there’s just one more thing, now that I’m here!
I am trying to patch a clinical web over your problem ...Empathetically. Communicating blind. Flushing the darkness systematically with questions ...That dredge the deep... A poem by Rebecca Quinn.
My love for those who could not help themselves was fuelled by passion,
As medicine became my way of helping them with care and compassion.
The winning submission of the Royal Society of Medicine John Fry Prize by Salwa Ahmad.
Mark Pearson and colleagues present a number of powerful poems submitted by participants of long COVID support groups exploring their experience of long COVID.
'I hoped it would be all right...' is a temptation to be resisted, leading to the final bind the researcher find him/herself in as it dawns that all is not all right.
Alexandre Dumas’s 19th century French novel, The Count of Monte Cristo, doesn’t usually make the list of standard medical texts but perhaps it should not be so readily dismissed. It captures the spirit of an age when medicine was undergoing a revolution...
"It’s the best show we have seen in years ... " — Polyester elephants on 6 foot plinths, grotesque life-sized cloth dolls, and robotic snakes — it's the return of the Venice Biennale, reviewed by Will Norman
‘Yes dad, a little dash like normal.’ I never knew how to reply. Was he asking a question? Was he just making a statement, did he even want milk in it? Had he forgotten how he had his tea? I never knew
During the UK pandemic lockdowns of 2020–21 an online literary festival was held by the Worshipful Society of Apothecaries of London, and the talks are freely available online. Andrew Papanikitas invites readers online and back in time!
Found poetry is created by taking words and phrases from other sources and reframing them - the literary equivalent of a collage. Jessica Watson and Fiona Hamilton demonstrate how the approach can be applied to qualitative research to capture and share experiences
Movies allow health care professionals to immerse themselves in “near-true” experiences that challenge their values and principles. Beatrice Khater and Bassem Saab discuss using The Last King of Scotland in family medicine training at the American University of Beirut
Ben Hoban reflects on general practice as a 'Hero's journey,' but argues that this must be reconciled with the patient narrative. Don your narrative bifocals!
Hannah Weston-Simons shares an ode to her GP colleagues
David Jeffrey suggests that medical teachers will find this book a source of inspiration in encouraging students to engage in empathic relationships with patients and colleagues.
Are you a healthcare professional looking for a creative community of writers? Neil Wilson introduces the Society of Medical Writers
Yathu Maheswaran reflects on what TV 'This is going to hurt' might teach medical trainees
Giles Dawnay reviews the TV adaption of Adam Kay's This is Going to Hurt.
John Launer reflects that Pather Panchali is a masterpiece in its own right but there are particular reasons why GPs might want to find time to watch it. Few other movies show such a profound understanding of family life among people living
John Launer muses on what Mozart's Magic Flute can teach us about family medicine
Today’s younger generation enjoy Harry Potter and Roald Dahl’s books. John Brooks takes us back to the days of John Buchan’s spy adventures, and tells us a little of Buchan's remarkable life and medical history.
The Tate Britain has re-opened! Roger Jones advises us not to miss the Turner Exhibition - maybe life's getting good again!
We might feel we have had a terrible year. Most of the world have had it much worse. Nathaniel Aspray reviews an inspirational film about the origins and early years of Partners In Health, an internationally renowned health charity.
Olivia Baker brings us a special Burns' Night report on Robbie Burns lesser known career as a medical commentator.
This Christmas let us join Professor Deborah Swinglehurst and her husband, Nicholas Edwards, as they present a Schubert lied that they have arranged for guitar and voice.
Two GPs reflect on the impact poetry has had on their practice and how it fits into their lives.
The publication of this new anthology of poems by NHS staff could not have come at a more apposite time. The coronavirus pandemic has highlighted the vital role of the NHS and the dedication of its staff in both community and hospital
We reviewed All the Little Lights in the March 2019 BJGP. A new production is on 12-17th August at the Tristan Bates Theatre as part of the Camden Fringe Season. Lucy Mabbitt, one of the actors and co-producers in the three hander
Written by Lesley Morrison. This year, for the fourth year, all Scottish medical graduates were gifted Tools of the Trade, the little pocket sized book of poetry published by the Scottish Poetry Library and intended to provide support for new doctors
Living in a different culture is exciting and fascinating. But living in Bahrain we do miss “culture” in its other sense. There is a magnificent National Theatre, usually empty, putting on just a few touring shows a year. The nearest opera house
Ahmed Z Kazmi is a doctor and stand-up comedian. If you would like to see his show ‘Doctor in the House’ he will be performing at Brighton Fringe 20-24th May 2016, Hollywood Fringe 19th-26th June 2016 and Edinburgh Fringe Festival 4-14th August 2016.
We were in Athens with a couple of hours to kill. Acropolised out, too early for Ouzo. We had seen Socrates’ jail cell (almost certainly apocryphal). We had seen the remains of Aristotle’s Lyceum, lovingly excavated. We had felt the weight of
Stephen Bergman is a doctor, novelist and playwright. He is currently a Clinical Professor of Medicine in Medical Humanities and Ethics at New York University Medical School. His book, The House of God, published in 1978, is firmly established in medical culture
Out of Chaos Comes a Dancing Star: Notes on Professional Burnout by Chris Ellis. OpenBooks Press, 2014, PB, 95pp, £18, http://www.lastoutpost.info This book review was written by Ami Sweetman and was in the April 2015 issue of the BJGP. The author of this book has a fellowship
Professor Roger Jones is editor of the British Journal of General Practice. A Fortunate Man: the story of a country doctor. John Berger and Jean Mohr. Canongate, London, 2015 First published in 1967, this is one of those must-read general practice books, essential for
Elinor Gunning is an academic GP and UCL Clinical Teaching Fellow (@EJGun) “So, in the future, can we just replace GPs with a diagnostic robot?” Is it just me, or do other GPs hear this question a lot? Often it’s more commonly
Euan Lawson (@euan_lawson) is the Deputy Editor, BJGP. In 2005, Edywn Collins had a brain haemorrhage. There’s no gentle intro to this film; it is immersive as we are plunged into a fragmentary sequence of memories, images and sounds. There’s footage of Helmsdale, the