"You will be seen now" by Seri Durosinmi
Reflection
As someone that is intrigued by the concept of communication, and even more in a clinical context, the dynamic between patients and doctors is something that fascinates me. It has been highlighted to me that the perceptions both parties have of one another when in fact the baseline fact is that both patients and doctors are human beings – a reality I tried to capture through my creative piece. Weekly engagements in a Primary Care module, coupled with a year in industry, gaining into patient experience, permitted me to explore and depict the thoughts and feelings of primary caregivers – specifically a GP – and patients, during a consultation, through poetry. This was carried out to present the observed possible perceptions each party have of one another, challenge them, and reiterate that both are people - regardless of anything they’re going through, bringing a sense of humanity to both parties.
The piece is written from both GP and patient’s perspectives during a consultation; the expression of their viewpoints throughout allows for either party to face and challenge their preconceived perceptions of their counterpart. The patients’ perspective is especially founded on experiences of those I've worked with and took time to learn from, during my placement year, as well as on my own personal experiences. The perspective of the GP is directly founded on the previous knowledge of doctor’s experiences shared through articles, doctors I know personally, as well as the Primary Care module I'm currently studying – in particular, literature we study called ‘The Appointment’, a book that conveys the thoughts and feelings of a GP during their consultations.
The GP’s perspective conveys that their medical position and outlook often seems to prevent people from appreciating what is really taking place underneath – mentally and emotionally. The GP’s expressions were aided by the perspectives shared in Graham Easton’s ‘The Appointment’ - the GP expresses a desire to be seen as a person, away from the pressures and expectations that come with the title of a GP. Upon reflecting on the reality depicted in the book, and the reality shared through GP presentations about the nature of each day of work during my module, I was able to reflect and suggest a vented expression of the difficulties to allow readers to bring a sense of human nature to GPs despite the efficiency their of work providing an almost ‘mechanical’ or machine-like view of them. The GP perspective was written to express primary caregivers like GPs aren’t machines of medical/clinical knowledge but are people that deserve to be seen as such. The patient’s perspective conveys that they often feel their clinical presentation of a possible ailment can overshadow the person they are underneath. The disease and clinical presentation can often cloud the reality of the life a person might live – something strongly expressed to me in the context of oncology. I reflected on this and the feelings this conjured up in patients and their families and worked to depict this through the patient view emphasis.
The poem ends with the appreciation of both parties’ expressions enabling their persons to be viewed away from the titles of patient and GP, and just being seen.