{"id":35594,"date":"2015-11-02T14:01:42","date_gmt":"2015-11-02T13:01:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/?p=35594"},"modified":"2015-11-02T14:01:56","modified_gmt":"2015-11-02T13:01:56","slug":"ahimza-thirunavukarasu-thinking-about-empathy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2015\/11\/02\/ahimza-thirunavukarasu-thinking-about-empathy\/","title":{"rendered":"Ahimza Thirunavukarasu: Thinking about empathy"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Ahimza<\/a>I\u2019ve thought a lot about empathy recently. As a junior doctor on a psychiatry rotation, this is unsurprising, as interacting with people with acute mental health problems on a daily basis requires more patience and understanding than any of my previous roles. But it is one of the reasons I\u2019ve enjoyed the rotation.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve learnt to communicate appropriately with patients from a variety of backgrounds, varying my approach on the basis of their response to me. I\u2019ve learnt how to take it on the chin when the person in front of me hates me and isn\u2019t afraid to show it. I\u2019ve learnt that life isn\u2019t fair for many of the people I\u2019ve met; both the patients and their families. And I\u2019ve accepted that a doctor\u2019s role in improving these lives can sometimes be very limited.<\/p>\n

What has struck me most is how our empathy can become substantially limited when the behaviour of a patient appears to be their “fault” in some way. This may seem obvious, as people are generally held accountable for their behaviour. Yet the facts we learn at medical school about behaviour resulting from complex interactions between genes and environments do not seem to affect practice. We abandon this knowledge when confronted with an aggressive or emotionally unstable person, and instead put up our own defences.<\/p>\n

Yet\u00a0empathy is still vital in caring for such patients. Just as those who have developed lung cancer through smoking should receive not just the treatment, but also the help and support that other cancer patients do, we should still empathise with people whose behaviour may be contributing to their mental state. This is crucial because otherwise we risk missing opportunities to develop good therapeutic alliances, and make people less likely to seek help or change their behaviour in the future.<\/p>\n

Our resources in this country are strained and it sometimes feels impossible to act with empathy. We may simply be too busy and the extra effort may not directly fall under our “remit” as professionals. The way our colleagues behave also has a big impact. As professionals who are always expected to be on our best behaviour, we learn subconsciously where the boundaries lie. We can very easily learn to mirror the prejudices that colleagues\u00a0can display (especially if they are senior) sometimes rather overtly, for example, when dealing with psychiatric patients. Despite the training in mental health we receive, due\u00a0to the pressure and culture within fast paced work environments, we can easily forget how to treat our patients the way we should.<\/p>\n

In psychiatry too, the term “behavioural” is thrown around commonly to refer to people whose actions are deemed to be under their own control. This is a useful distinction to make, as it can prevent inappropriate treatment and admissions. However, it can also lead to a feeling of therapeutic futility and, consequently, reduced empathy. Our limits as care providers, within structured systems and with circumscribed resources, may in fact limit our empathy more than the patients themselves. When we feel that we can\u2019t help someone, we give up trying to. Instead, we do what falls under\u00a0our minimum responsibility before passing on the buck to someone else.<\/p>\n

But I don\u2019t think we can just blame our\u00a0healthcare system’s\u00a0structures. We have all gone above and beyond these\u00a0for certain patients during our careers. Maybe they were of a similar age or background. Maybe over time you developed a special bond with their family. But is it really morally excusable to treat people differently based on such personal preferences? If we are capable of such empathy, shouldn\u2019t we be thinking about all of our patients in this manner?<\/p>\n

It is important for staff to realise and reflect on where their limits of empathy are, and how this influences their day to day behaviour. To some degree, our limits are reflected in our choice of sector. People often cite the target population of their specialty as a reason for their choice. Some choose to veer away from specialties that they find too emotionally challenging, for example, paediatrics. Others prefer specialties where empathy does not have a key role, for example, radiology or public health. Whatever one chooses, however, a career in medicine invariably demands an ability to try and see things from another person\u2019s perspective.<\/p>\n

We are only human. We have our own baggage, prejudices, and tolerance levels. It\u2019s definitely not easy to put these aside. But we should be trying to understand all of our patients; not just the ones who are likeable or who\u00a0make us feel good about ourselves. Recognising our limitations and how these may affect our practice should be a bigger part of our self assessment. We should be encouraged to question the culture and attitudes within our workplace, and direct our frustrations towards improving the structures we work within.<\/p>\n

As trainees, we should not accept disillusionment and hardened hearts as an inevitable part of becoming consultants. Let us instead remain curious and compassionate about all of those we encounter, even when they don\u2019t fit neatly into our notion of an ideal patient.<\/p>\n

Ahimza Thirunavukarasu<\/strong> is a foundation year 2 doctor at the North West<\/em>
\nThames deanery. She has a special interest in global health and enjoys<\/em>
\nwriting in her spare time.<\/em><\/p>\n

Competing interests: I have read and understood BMJ policy on declaration of interests and declare the following interests: None.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019ve thought a lot about empathy recently. As a junior doctor on a psychiatry rotation, this is unsurprising, as interacting with people with acute mental health problems on a daily […]<\/p>\n

More…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[165],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-35594","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-junior-doctors"],"yoast_head":"\nAhimza Thirunavukarasu: Thinking about empathy - The BMJ<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2015\/11\/02\/ahimza-thirunavukarasu-thinking-about-empathy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ahimza Thirunavukarasu: Thinking about empathy - The BMJ\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I\u2019ve thought a lot about empathy recently. As a junior doctor on a psychiatry rotation, this is unsurprising, as interacting with people with acute mental health problems on a daily [...]More...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2015\/11\/02\/ahimza-thirunavukarasu-thinking-about-empathy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The BMJ\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bmjdotcom\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-11-02T13:01:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-11-02T13:01:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/files\/2015\/11\/Ahimza-Thirunavukarasu-248x300.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"BMJ\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@bmj_latest\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@bmj_latest\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"BMJ\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/2015\\\/11\\\/02\\\/ahimza-thirunavukarasu-thinking-about-empathy\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/2015\\\/11\\\/02\\\/ahimza-thirunavukarasu-thinking-about-empathy\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"BMJ\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ba3da426ed20e8f1d933ca367d8216fe\"},\"headline\":\"Ahimza Thirunavukarasu: Thinking about empathy\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-11-02T13:01:42+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-11-02T13:01:56+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/2015\\\/11\\\/02\\\/ahimza-thirunavukarasu-thinking-about-empathy\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":919,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/2015\\\/11\\\/02\\\/ahimza-thirunavukarasu-thinking-about-empathy\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/files\\\/2015\\\/11\\\/Ahimza-Thirunavukarasu-248x300.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Junior doctors\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/2015\\\/11\\\/02\\\/ahimza-thirunavukarasu-thinking-about-empathy\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/2015\\\/11\\\/02\\\/ahimza-thirunavukarasu-thinking-about-empathy\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/2015\\\/11\\\/02\\\/ahimza-thirunavukarasu-thinking-about-empathy\\\/\",\"name\":\"Ahimza Thirunavukarasu: Thinking about empathy - The BMJ\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/2015\\\/11\\\/02\\\/ahimza-thirunavukarasu-thinking-about-empathy\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/2015\\\/11\\\/02\\\/ahimza-thirunavukarasu-thinking-about-empathy\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/files\\\/2015\\\/11\\\/Ahimza-Thirunavukarasu-248x300.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-11-02T13:01:42+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-11-02T13:01:56+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/2015\\\/11\\\/02\\\/ahimza-thirunavukarasu-thinking-about-empathy\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/2015\\\/11\\\/02\\\/ahimza-thirunavukarasu-thinking-about-empathy\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/2015\\\/11\\\/02\\\/ahimza-thirunavukarasu-thinking-about-empathy\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/files\\\/2015\\\/11\\\/Ahimza-Thirunavukarasu.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/files\\\/2015\\\/11\\\/Ahimza-Thirunavukarasu.jpg\",\"width\":352,\"height\":425},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/2015\\\/11\\\/02\\\/ahimza-thirunavukarasu-thinking-about-empathy\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Ahimza Thirunavukarasu: Thinking about empathy\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/\",\"name\":\"The BMJ\",\"description\":\"Helping doctors make better decisions.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"The BMJ\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/files\\\/2018\\\/05\\\/The-BMJ-logo.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/files\\\/2018\\\/05\\\/The-BMJ-logo.jpg\",\"width\":852,\"height\":568,\"caption\":\"The BMJ\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/bmjdotcom\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/bmj_latest\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ba3da426ed20e8f1d933ca367d8216fe\",\"name\":\"BMJ\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/b4d8f39281bcae118348a1c027347b8e53b82d42520e774a8b50dd9a6ac6c01d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/b4d8f39281bcae118348a1c027347b8e53b82d42520e774a8b50dd9a6ac6c01d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/b4d8f39281bcae118348a1c027347b8e53b82d42520e774a8b50dd9a6ac6c01d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"BMJ\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/author\\\/admin\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Ahimza Thirunavukarasu: Thinking about empathy - The BMJ","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2015\/11\/02\/ahimza-thirunavukarasu-thinking-about-empathy\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Ahimza Thirunavukarasu: Thinking about empathy - The BMJ","og_description":"I\u2019ve thought a lot about empathy recently. As a junior doctor on a psychiatry rotation, this is unsurprising, as interacting with people with acute mental health problems on a daily [...]More...","og_url":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2015\/11\/02\/ahimza-thirunavukarasu-thinking-about-empathy\/","og_site_name":"The BMJ","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bmjdotcom\/","article_published_time":"2015-11-02T13:01:42+00:00","article_modified_time":"2015-11-02T13:01:56+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/files\/2015\/11\/Ahimza-Thirunavukarasu-248x300.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"BMJ","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@bmj_latest","twitter_site":"@bmj_latest","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"BMJ","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2015\/11\/02\/ahimza-thirunavukarasu-thinking-about-empathy\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2015\/11\/02\/ahimza-thirunavukarasu-thinking-about-empathy\/"},"author":{"name":"BMJ","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/#\/schema\/person\/ba3da426ed20e8f1d933ca367d8216fe"},"headline":"Ahimza Thirunavukarasu: Thinking about empathy","datePublished":"2015-11-02T13:01:42+00:00","dateModified":"2015-11-02T13:01:56+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2015\/11\/02\/ahimza-thirunavukarasu-thinking-about-empathy\/"},"wordCount":919,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2015\/11\/02\/ahimza-thirunavukarasu-thinking-about-empathy\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/files\/2015\/11\/Ahimza-Thirunavukarasu-248x300.jpg","articleSection":["Junior doctors"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2015\/11\/02\/ahimza-thirunavukarasu-thinking-about-empathy\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2015\/11\/02\/ahimza-thirunavukarasu-thinking-about-empathy\/","url":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2015\/11\/02\/ahimza-thirunavukarasu-thinking-about-empathy\/","name":"Ahimza Thirunavukarasu: Thinking about empathy - The BMJ","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2015\/11\/02\/ahimza-thirunavukarasu-thinking-about-empathy\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2015\/11\/02\/ahimza-thirunavukarasu-thinking-about-empathy\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/files\/2015\/11\/Ahimza-Thirunavukarasu-248x300.jpg","datePublished":"2015-11-02T13:01:42+00:00","dateModified":"2015-11-02T13:01:56+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2015\/11\/02\/ahimza-thirunavukarasu-thinking-about-empathy\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2015\/11\/02\/ahimza-thirunavukarasu-thinking-about-empathy\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2015\/11\/02\/ahimza-thirunavukarasu-thinking-about-empathy\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/files\/2015\/11\/Ahimza-Thirunavukarasu.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/files\/2015\/11\/Ahimza-Thirunavukarasu.jpg","width":352,"height":425},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2015\/11\/02\/ahimza-thirunavukarasu-thinking-about-empathy\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Ahimza Thirunavukarasu: Thinking about empathy"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/#website","url":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/","name":"The BMJ","description":"Helping doctors make better decisions.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/#organization","name":"The BMJ","url":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/files\/2018\/05\/The-BMJ-logo.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/files\/2018\/05\/The-BMJ-logo.jpg","width":852,"height":568,"caption":"The BMJ"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bmjdotcom\/","https:\/\/x.com\/bmj_latest"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/#\/schema\/person\/ba3da426ed20e8f1d933ca367d8216fe","name":"BMJ","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b4d8f39281bcae118348a1c027347b8e53b82d42520e774a8b50dd9a6ac6c01d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b4d8f39281bcae118348a1c027347b8e53b82d42520e774a8b50dd9a6ac6c01d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b4d8f39281bcae118348a1c027347b8e53b82d42520e774a8b50dd9a6ac6c01d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"BMJ"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/"],"url":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/author\/admin\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35594","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35594"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35594\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35594"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35594"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35594"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}