A farewell to hospital medicine

Fraser Barratt is a GP ST3 trainee in Edinburgh. He is on Twitter/X: @FSBarratt

Farewell hospital medicine
And farewell to the bleep
To 6 long years of night shifts
Without a wink of sleep

Farewell hospital medicine
To all those cups of tea
Cold before they had the chance
To bring a smile to me

Farewell hospital medicine
And farewell to ward rounds
Hours too long or much too short
To scribble a jobs list down

Farewell hospital medicine
That gave me a bladder of steel
13 hours without a pause
To stop and break the seal

Farewell hospital medicine
To all the tears I’ve cried
In cupboards and in treatment rooms
Enough to change the tide

Farewell hospital medicine
And farewell to each nurse
You picked me up when I was down
And taught me: kindness first!

Farewell hospital medicine
And farewell to the kids
You’re braver than the grown ups
Through everything we did

Farewell hospital medicine
And farewell to the doctor
Who told me I was “too attached”
And “emotion isn’t proper”

And farewell to the patient
Whom I was too attached to
You made me smile and told me things
That fool would never ask you

Farewell hospital medicine
And farewell Mr Grange*
You put me down and made me cry
For things I couldn’t change

Farewell hospital medicine
And farewell Mrs Dee*
I’m sorry I couldn’t take your pain
But your smile stays with me

Farewell hospital medicine
And thank you for the madness
For every lesson I will need
To survive in general practice!

Author’s note: The patient names (Mr Grange and Mrs Dee) are entirely fabricated and bear no relation to real patients.

Featured photo by Jason Blackeye on Unsplash