I’m serious. Have a look around the ward, the clinic or your operating theatre. Each person you work with are highly trained in what they do. Each of your colleagues are treasures of knowledge, experience and skills. Today, pick up a new skill, or refresh yourself on an old skill.… Read more

Today might be a really hard challenge for some of us: be quiet. In your consultations today with patients, try and utilise silence as a tool. Make a real attempt today to leave moments of silence in your conversations. See what would happen if you held back and simply allow your patients to talk.… Read more

The original title was meant to be “Touch a nurse”, but as a surgeon, it is not appropriate for me to suggest that doctors should be touching nurses willy-nilly. So, instead, go thank a nurse. Thank one of your hardest working colleagues.… Read more

I can’t say it any better than this.

Patients come to the clinic and operating table expecting to be touched, clinically, humanly, and emotionally. It goes beyond the routines of physical examination. The touch on the hand, the squeeze on the shoulder, the hand on the back as they walk, all work towards providing hope, encouragement and comfort.… Read more

For a few hours today (or all day if possible), switch off all technology and be with your friends and family. Yes, turn off the iPhone, iPod, iPad, iPad Mini, Samsung, Laptop, TV, radio, DVD, Nintendo, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. Disconnect from technology and be physically and mentally present with your friends and family.… Read more

Saturday. Most of us are not seeing patients today. Grab this opportunity today to learn something that is totally unrelated to medicine and surgery. Then tell someone what you’ve learned. Pick up a book on whales. Google up how to make origami.… Read more

‘Doctor’ came from the latin word ‘docero’, which means ‘Teacher’. Our primary duty is to teach. But teaching has been much excluded from our day-to-day activities. Patients, sadly, have told me several times, “You’re the first doctor who has ever explained that to me.”… Read more

It is well known that doctors are not usually great communicators verbally, and even worse at the written form of communication. I know, I know. Writing is hard for us doctors. But 10-year-olds can do it, so it shouldn’t be that hard.… Read more

We’re busy. We walk past many people every day in hospitals. We walk into the operating theatre and demand things done quickly and efficiently. We walk into the wards, do our rounds swiftly and leave. What happens if we stop intentionally and specifically several times during the day to say hello to those we often meet but take for granted?… Read more

Write down in as few words as possible why you did medicine/surgery in the first place, and keep it somewhere visible. A post it note on the computer, a note on the iPhone home screen, a scribble on the dorsum of your hand, anywhere visible to you.… Read more