Syncopation
Reflection
Syncopation is a musical device defined as “a disturbance or interruption of the regular flow of rhythm”. I created this piece after experience a ‘syncopation’ of sorts in relation to my understanding of why some patients refrain from seeking medical help.
Some patients with poor health, rather than being excluded, or having to exclude themselves, from equal healthcare due to factors they may not have control over (e.g. financial status), choose to exclude themselves on their own accord. A major narrative that is accepted, in relation to this concept, is the idea that these patients don’t want to engage with healthcare, because they aren’t bothered by their health, but a consultation I undertook at a GP placement aided me in releasing there is a more overlooked reason that I had never considered.
During the consultation, the patient stopped twice to ask the same question: “am I even helping you?”. This simple question shocked me for two reasons: the first being that this is a question I often find myself contemplating during consultations, and the second being that it had never occurred to me that a patient would have the same question on their mind. Upon further exploration, it became apparent that the patient felt they were hindering our learning, and saw themselves as a nuisance. This led me to realise that many patients don’t engage with healthcare for this exact reason. They doubt whether their problem is important enough to ‘bother’ their GP with, and as a result diminish the importance of their own health. It took seconds to reassure the patient that their fears were not the case, which raises the question: why is this such an overlooked factor when it is, in most cases, easily remediable?
I wanted to portray what this consultation signified for me, through a creative piece. The sculpture may look simply like two hands holding one another, but it symbolises more than that. The two hands are the same size to represent the similarities between the anxieties both doctors and patients may feel (e.g. the fear that they are not helping adequately), during a consultation, which can lead to patients excluding themselves from healthcare. Both hands are holding one another, rather than only one holding onto the other, to symbolise the mutual desire to help that I felt was apparent from both sides, during the consultation with this patient. The motif of two hands interlinked is also meant to symbolise how, when given the opportunity to, acknowledging patients’ fears of being seen as a burden and offering reassurance that this is not the case, can help to create a positive ‘syncopation’ in their stance on engaging with healthcare, increasing engagement and promoting inclusivity. In addition, the title of the piece and aspects of it are dedicated to the patient I had consulted. If you hold the sculpture upright it bares a resemblance to the anterior view of a heart in situ; this was a nod to the patient on whom this reflection is based as they had undergone an aortic valve replacement due to valvular heart disease: “a disturbance or interruption of the regular flow of rhythm”; a ‘syncopation’ of their own.