Eight years ago I wrote about the ‘Igglepiggle moments’ of my clinical practice. The quick fixes in paediatric ED that...
Clinician Stories
Re-filling the tank
I’m on count down. Annual leave minus 10 days. If all goes to plan (no local lockdown!) I’ll be going away; an escape...
Recalculating the cost of lockdown
My job is not any easier. There was talk that when the lockdown ended A&E would not go back to how it used to be....
Re-kindled memories – humanity at the end
She lay mostly silent and still, the occasional grimace the only indication of moments of intense pain and maybe fear. The freshly pressed, stark white bed sheet allowed little contrast against her cold skin; all colour had drained from her face and her arm...
Recollections: taking it all in
It was a cold, bleak Sunday in January. The trees were bare, the sky colourless and the ground had that bleached look it gets when it’s cold enough to see your own breath. A grey, tired landscape, devoid of colour after the Christmas holiday. Inside the ward was a...
Re-focusing our efforts: prejudging is pointless
My heart sank when I saw who was next on my list. A mother I knew well due to her regular visits. I had come to the conclusion after testing everything she had asked me to test, and found nothing to be alarmed about, that she suffered from health anxiety. I really did...
Re-leveling: how stories ground us.
Doctors make mistakes. There; I've said it. For those of us in the profession, that can be a hard pill to swallow, but the earlier that lesson is learnt the better, not only for our patients but also for ourselves. Doctors make mistakes - the important question is,...
Recalling my time in neurosurgery
As a junior doctor I spent six months working on a neurosurgical ward of a London hospital. This job was unlike any I had worked before. The hours were long and the work intensive. Our rota of four doctors was only filled by three of us, meaning at times a 1:2 on-call...
Re-defining: culture and purpose
It was my first ward sisters post. It was on ‘that ward’. You know, the one that everyone talks about? The staff are always rude, (apparently) the patients have a terrible experience and it always has well, an ‘aroma’ about it. Colleagues looked at me with total...
Reaching out
“I'm not ready to go yet.” The words were barely understandable through the sobs, but the feeling and power with which they were spoken was immense. My patient was in her 30's and had been admitted through the Emergency Department to the surgical ward I was working on...
Recovering myslef
"I'm so sorry for keeping you waiting." I heard the words spoken from within me as my next patient walked through the door from the waiting room to the minor injury area of the Emergency Department. It was after midnight. My shift had officially finished over three...
Respecting everyone in surgery
“ I have found that the smartest, most competent, empathetic women in medicine are the most likely to rate their performance as ‘awful’, ‘terrible’, or a failure. This characteristic gets worse the higher the level of coaching that I am providing. This is ridiculous;...