Blog by Amali U. Lokugamage and Clare Rayner We are both senior doctors affected by multi-system long covid symptoms for almost two years now and have resorted to biomedical, humanities, artistic and complementary methods to support rehabilitation and recovery. We used art and poetry and meditation despite illness. These helped us communicate and make sense […]
Tag: Blog
Ethnographic Fieldwork Among Pigs and People: What Can We Learn from Previous Xenotransplantations?
Blog by Susanne Lundin In the late 1990s, I visited a farm at a secret location in the UK where I met the offspring of the world-famous Astrid. Astrid herself was staying in another place, hidden from the public eye (as is customary for celebrities). Astrid was not just any mother of several children, but […]
Compassion, Willpower and Social Stigma: A Journey Through the Deadly Second Wave of the Covid-19 Pandemic in India
Blog by Kunchok Dorjee Covid patients are subject to stigma, isolation, and low morale. Elderly citizens, individuals without family support, health disparity populations, and those with coexisting conditions–such as HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, mental health conditions, refugees, etc.–may be particularly vulnerable. Mitigation measures such as harsh lockdowns and forced isolation have exacerbated the stigma. Inclusion and humanity […]
The Bias Virus
Blog by Rachelle Ann Gonzales, BS*, Alex Im, BS* and Cynthia Romero, MD *Corresponding first-authors During the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, I vividly remember watching a viral video of a young man attacking a masked, middle-aged Asian woman at the Grand Street subway station in New York City. […]
Endemic Fatalism and Why It Won’t Resolve COVID-19
Blog by Jacob Steere-Williams Pandemic fatigue has been pushed aside by a new phenomenon in many places around the world; endemic fatalism. The raging Omicron variant of COVID-19 has ushered in the highest case positivity rates since the beginning of the pandemic, flooding hospitals and attacking even those vaccinated and boosted against the disease. “We’re […]
Pandemic-divoc-91-suriv-disconnect
Blog by Lauraine M.H. Vivian The VIH-suriv Her whole body encrusted in sarcoptes scabiei, a 50-year-old woman lay in foetal position on a hospital bed in Cape Town (Richards 2021). It was 2012 and I, a medical anthropologist, was accompanying a consultant on a clinical teaching ward round. She diagnosed her condition as Norwegian Scabies […]
Indian Folk Art and COVID-19
Blog by Sathyaraj Venkatesan The present piece offers a brief graphic analysis of two COVID-19 related folk painting representing two major artistic traditions in India—patachitra and mithila—in order to demonstrate how these paintings, through using Hindu religious codes and stories, imagine the current pandemics. Before I do so, it would be instructive to offer a […]
Rolodex of Poems
Blog by Austin Lam, 4th Year Medical Student at the University of Toronto “Poetry is the language of intensity. Because we are going to die, an expression of intensity is justified.” – Carolyne Wright During my Internal Medicine rotation in third year, I found great joy in being able to connect with patients as I […]
Nursing Through the Lens of Storytelling
Blog by Catherine Best Nursing through the gaze of a storytelling lens shines a light on the importance of nurses making the most of patient narratives to gain valuable insight into lives lived. This insight enables the delivery of person-centred, evidence-based nursing care, within frequently highly charged and emotional situations. Storytelling forges connections among and between people and ideas. Telling […]
Making Space for Students from Widening Access Backgrounds: Socioeconomic Diversity, Historical Contexts, and the Need for Reimagining of Criteria and Culture within Medical Education
Blog by Kasey Johnson Students from widening access (WA) backgrounds, contribute unique strengths to medicine and are an investment in the most vulnerable communities, yet recruiting and retaining WA students continue to be a challenge for most medical schools. Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) data shows that only 5% of medical school matriculants are […]