In the first of two blog posts, Catherine Kelsey opens up a discourse about the challenges that surround the nursing profession in understanding not only what it means to experience illness, but also the importance of developing a truly humanistic approach to nursing care. As nurses we must not lose sight of the patient as a […]
Category: Blog
Where the Doctor-Patient Relationship is Heading: Literary Perspectives
The author of today’s guest blog post is Dr. Anna Magdalena Elsner, a Swiss National Science Foundation Marie Heim-Vögtlin Research Fellow working at the Center for Medical Humanities at the University of Zurich. Her current project is entitled ‘Palliative Pages’. Focusing on the history of modern palliative care in France as well as French end-of-life […]
The Healing Power of Narratives and Social Support
Gulraj Grewal grew up in Kenya then went on to complete university at University College London (UCL). She completed an undergraduate degree in Immunology and Infection and then pursued an MSc in Global Health and Development, where she discovered her love of qualitative research. She undertook a qualitative project for her Masters and is currently […]
A Helical Tangle
This is a guest post by Rebecca Marshall. Rebecca has just graduated from UCL Medical School, having intercalated in Global Health. She is currently undertaking an MSc in Medical Anthropology, also at UCL. Her main interests include the intersections between medical anthropology, global health and bioethics, particularly in the insight Applied Medical Anthropology can offer […]
Can revalidation be a platform for praxis and the emancipation of the nursing profession?
By Catherine Kelsey, University of Bradford It is argued that nursing is controlled by a number of hegemonic influences including political reform and societal expectations, the constant call for evidence-based practice and the all-pervading management-led changes that seem to be a constant. And yet nurses are considered to be autonomous and accountable practitioners (Hilton, 2005), […]
Politics and Medicine
Clinicians should understand how they can use the ballot box to advance their patients’ health interests. Jacob King, Deniz Kaya Medical Students, Peninsula College of Medicine and Dentistry As a health professional working in a sterile environment one might easily find themselves feeling disparately removed from the slimy world of politics. But sadly we […]
First impressions only happen once
Fergus Shanahan Eyes smiling, face beaming, the porter rose from his stool to greet arrivals at the cancer centre, each nervously hesitant, staying close to a supporting loved one. With the confidence of a man who enjoyed being good at his job, he paused for those needing directions, reassured us that we were […]
Difficult Histories by Niamh NicGabhann
I was recently involved in a project which explored the histories and memories of St. Davnet’s Hospital, Monaghan. St. Davnet’s was founded as the Cavan and Monaghan District Lunatic Asylum in 1869, and its name changed to ‘Monaghan Mental Hospital’ in the late 1920s, and later to ‘St. Davnet’s Hospital’ in the 1950s. I was […]
Mark Making: An Experience of Dementia and the Arts by Hannah Zeilig
Rose sensed that I was nervous. My façade of confidence was not convincing, I was holding my papers a little too defensively across my chest and my shoulders were tense. I stood awkwardly at the edge of the circle of people, feeling outside their camaraderie. It was strange but also salutary to feel an outsider […]
Art in Arthritis by Nancy Merridew
I called Marco from the waiting room. Everyone looked waxen under the fluorescent lights of Rheumatology Clinic. His olive skin looked grey. He rose like a grapevine on the trellis – thickset but gnarled through the seasons. Marco helped his wife with her handbag and they walked together. Her gait was […]