“If I want to get plastered on a Saturday night, and fight on my High Street,” a surgeon told me about 12 years ago, “...
Culture
Re-humanising at every encounter
“I’m not as scary as I look," he said, this young, wide eyed man standing in front of me. "I have...
Remembering how we coped
If the Covid-19 pandemic has illustrated anything to me it is how horrifically incongruent and hypocritical human...
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,...
Re-posing the diversity question
Oh, how they quivered! They shuffled in their seat, they looked at each other, their heart missed a beat. Not sure it was a triumph. It was clear they were caught unawares of something. Some unsavoury thought? They had to ask me the diversity question: ‘how would you...
Re examining the face of it: façadism
We were out to lunch with our most well travelled, urbane friends. “Have you seen those buildings in London?” asked one. “They pull down the entire building, all of it, except the façade. Then rebuild behind it.” “I think that’s what they are doing with...
Respecting the self
“One runs away to find oneself, and finds no one at home.” Joan Didion. Stress, burnout, moral injury. These are words that occupy time and space in much of what we read at the moment. Whilst there appears to be an epidemic of workplace distress in every...
Re-defining misogyny
A medical visitor from another part of the world asks me recently, have I encountered much misogyny in my twenty years of working with doctors. Images immediately crowd my mind. Men in suits, ignoring me. A meeting room. Late night calls. Being screamed at down...
Re-valuing our NHS: the price we pay for peace of mind
When I emerged it was dark. The street was busy, and I was afraid. I took off my dark sunglasses, not needing them now, and realised I could not see a thing without their prescription lenses. Putting them back on, I was jolted by a passer-by who shouted something at...
Reconnecting: let’s have a good old chat
It was my first day of work. First day as a fully qualified but on probation teacher. It had taken four and a half years with no holidays – we did our teaching practices in the holidays, and I had worked very hard to achieve not just a degree but a diploma in...
Recognising the Power Within
How would we cope if we were left to our own devices? No bosses, no managers, no underlings? Would there be a difference to the way we worked together depending on our educational level? Can team work be developed? These three questions have been swimming around in my...
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...