Articles

We all have blind spots in our fields of vision, that can be mapped. This is a known fact in Medicine. What is not so well known or accepted is that we as doctors also have blind spots, not just in our visual fields but in our perceptions of life, that are influenced by our beliefs and ideals.

I recently read an article (1) suggesting that sitting is satisfying, for doctors and for patients. The article stated that: “Sitting at a patient's...

I am currently ill, and far from feeling frustrated or upset about it, I see this illness is an offering, not a punishment.

I attended a function last night in the town where I live and work, at which we hosted our young doctors and talked to...

What do we mean when we say that medicine is a ‘calling’? And what implications does that have for the way we practice medicine and the way we live our lives?

The thing I have come to learn about music is that it is first and foremost a vibration, that is felt in the body. We think we are listening to something with our ears, and we are, but we are primarily resonating with the vibration of it and it can literally change the way we feel.

Medicine is an apprenticeship system and like all such systems, works best if the masters train their apprentices not just in a functional way, but with a deep level of care, as people and as colleagues. We now call this process mentoring.

Medicine is all about relationships. It is about caring for people, after all. So why do we place so little focus on this vital element of our profession?

We all know the harms of smoking and in fact there is nothing healing about it, so why do doctors smoke?

We don’t talk about it in Medicine much, when we lose someone we love. Doctors are no strangers to death and as part of our training, we are taught to toughen up, take things in our stride and become seemingly inured to death.

Welcome to Day 7 of 2022 and the opportunity to bring more love to your body and your life through the simple daily practice of self-care. Today is a moment to sleep.

Welcome to Day 6 of 2022 and the opportunity to bring more love to your body and your life through the simple daily practice of self-care. Today is a moment on drink.

Welcome to 2022 and the opportunity to bring more love to your body and your life through the simple daily practice of self-care. Today is a moment to eat ... But what, and why?

Welcome to Day 4 of 2022 and the opportunity to bring more love to your body and your life through the simple daily practise of self-care. Today is a moment to move.

Welcome to Day 3 of 2022 and the opportunity to bring more love to your body and your life through the simple daily practise of self-care. Today is a moment to be in your body.

Welcome to Day 2 of 2022 and the opportunity to bring more love to your body and your life through the simple daily practise of self-care. Today is a moment to breathe.

Welcome to 2022 and the opportunity to bring more love to your body and your life through the simple daily practise of self-care. It starts with a stop.

As this year draws to a close, it may be tempting to review the year through the lens of regret and make (another set of) new year’s resolutions, but what if there were another way of looking at this time of year, that comes around, every year.

Of all the many drugs on the market, there is only one pill known as ‘The Pill’. The Pill is a combination of synthetic female hormones – oestrogen and progesterone – used to mimic pregnancy and suppress female ovulation and thereby fertility, reducing the chance of unwanted pregnancy.

My experience so far with medical specialist training programmes and making the choice about which one to do, reminds me of the journey Frodo takes in the Lord of the Rings movie.

A beautiful blog by Dr Michael Myers, on the recent National Physician Suicide Awareness Day and the great work being done by Jennifer and Corey Feist, founders of the Dr Lorna Breen Heroes Foundation, one of the missions of which is “We envision a world where seeking mental health services is universally viewed as a sign of strength for health care professionals.”.

The key to developing true resilience is to care for ourselves and restore our sense of innate wholeness and worth, learning to love and appreciate ourselves just for who we are and to honour our innate sensitivity, letting the wisdom of our body guide our way, each and every day.

The Royal Australasian College of Surgeons (RACS) in conjunction with several other medical colleges and more to come, has just released a Wellbeing Charter for Doctors. This is a great first step in acknowledging the importance of self-care in healthcare professionals and the need for this care to be a shared responsibility for all of us.

This year, 9 September is R U OK? Day. This is an Australian initiative that was developed in 2009 by a man whose father was not OK and died by suicide.

We all have standards. They may not always be the same standards, but we all have them. Values that we hold dear, points of truth we will not compromise, a way of living that we hold as sacred.

Spring is such a beautiful time of the year. So why not take the time to love ourselves, inside and out, and refresh the way we feel about ourselves and life?

American medicine has a checkered history in its welcoming of physicians who are black, women, physically disabled, LGBT, to name a few. As a specialist in physician health and a 50-year career of treating physicians,1 I would like to add another group that has struggled for acceptance—physicians who have suffered a psychiatric illness. I argue that caste may be the reason.

My name is Evan Haines*. I’m writing you because I believe my mother, who, sadly, committed suicide in 1989, was under your care. I remember your name, and that she always thought very highly of you.

We hear the word ‘mindfulness’ mentioned a lot these days, but what is it? How do you do it? And what does it do for you?

Read this blog by renowned psychiatrist Dr Michael Myers on how well-intentioned advice is suppressing the doctors of tomorrow