Farmer Bob proved that medical jargon can scare patients (almost) to death
We are all familiar with the power of words, whether it be those of kindness or anger, or those intended to harm or to heal.…
Tag: Art of Medicine
This year has driven home to me how difficult life can be for our migrant patients
As some of you are aware, I recently moved to the UK for a year. Many of my challenges in relocating, albeit temporarily, have led…
This doctor’s ‘one-year’ trip to Australia in 2006 ended up reshaping international guidelines
Professor Britta Regli-Baronin Ungern-Sternberg von Purkel arrived in Australia with her husband in 2006 for a one-year stay. Almost 20 years later, she is still…
As a medical student, I looked forward to ‘white coat’ prestige — but I soon discovered that’s not real medicine
I entered medicine like many young doctors do: eager, determined and drawn to its promise of excellence. The white coat, the respect, the thrill of…
Do doctors really withdraw life support prematurely for patients with brain injuries?
Medicine is about life and death, a fact starkest when doctors advise families to end life support for a loved one. These decisions are routine…
Breaking my old habit of running late has been liberating: It’s extended my working life
Everyone has a different awareness of the passage of time. There are those who are always late, others who are always early, and some who…
Paternalism is bad but why do so many doctors expect me to mother my patients?
Sometimes we GPs can get quite attached to our patients. It’s probably no accident that many of us, having pursued a career based on helping…
‘Their experience was like the bud shops of Amsterdam’: GP flooded with recreational cannabis users asking for scripts
A few years ago, Dr Nic Giummarra felt he could make a real difference in his patients’ lives for the first time. A GP on…
Whack-a-mole medicine in an age of patients with alternative facts
Once upon a time, getting caught in a lie, especially a hand-in-the-cookie-jar one, carried consequences. Shame, maybe a grovelling apology. A promise to do better…
I don’t mind patients with lists, but double appointments grind my gears
In my twilight years of general practice, I’ve begun to be amused, rather than dismayed, by the patient who refers to a list of medical…
