Last month over 300 GP Trainees in Yorkshire and Humber attended the conference ‘Evolving GP’; organised by trainees for trainees.
A visual summary of the day
The Covid Diaries
Photos sent in by trainees to reflect their experience of GP Training and life during COVID were curated into a photo slide show by Dr Lucy Clark
To Professor Dom Patterson for talking about the difficult subject of racism in medicine, for raising awareness and sharing initiatives. #antiracism #AntiRacismSeries
What are you doing to keep this issue on the front page?
What could you do to adapt your behaviour and promote positive antiracist behaviour in your team?
Do you have any art resources (films, novels, poems, pictures, music) you could share with me to help build a page of resources about racism?
#hellomynameis
A campaign for more compassionate care
The play ‘#Hello, my name is’ was commissioned in 2018 by St. Gemmas Hospice in Leeds and written by award winning playwright Brian Daniels. The play dramatises the story of the personal heartbreak, resolve and determination experienced by Dr Kate Granger and her husband Chris Pointon before, during and beyond Kate’s cancer diagnosis. When Kate became a patient herself she looked at life from the other side of the hospital bed. She had numerous encounters with a whole range of healthcare professionals and felt she was losing a sense of her personal identity until one day a porter named Brian arrived to take her to the operating theatre. ‘Hello, my name is Brian’ he said – those words restored Kate’s feeling of self-worth, and so the campaign was born! Kate and Chris were determined to make the world of healthcare a better place.
Sadly, Kate died at St Gemmas Hospice on the 23 July 2016.
You can read more about Kate’s story at #Hello, my name is
Taking care of our own health and wellbeing
A simple survey told us why services like the ‘Practitioner Health’ are so important.
We asked trainees:
“Have you struggled with your mental health during your medical career?” 49% said yes.
We asked trainees:
“Have you asked for help?” 21% said no
(n=255)
Thank you to Dr Sue Elton for coming to the conference to make trainees aware of this issue.
Professor Amir Kahn
Sharing his stories of being in the media, and his portfolio career. @drAmirKhanGP
With sensible advice- not to give medical advice on social media platforms, don’t expect immediate stardom, and ignore any unpleasant tweets/feedback.
The art and science of surviving and thriving
Wonder is the start of the journey to wisdom.
The art of surviving and thriving depends on having a set of positive coping strategies, all of which can be explained on a psychological and neurophysiological level. Read more here
These words are the ones trainees associated with how they would like the future General Practice to be.
The workshops
Stephen Burke The benefits of intergenerational community projects on health and wellbeing.
Nada Al Muhandis Project ECHO
Mike Tomson What should the RCGP curriculum say about climate change?
Martin Sutcliffe What models of care might we see as this decade progresses?
Linda Evans @sportymedicine Spreading the word about improving health through exercise.
Dr Gandalf @drgandalg How ‘tech’ and online learning with eGPlearning can improve your practise.
Vicki Barradell and Kath Shakespeare How to develop a person centred approach to prescribing for older adults.
and me, Nicola Gill @theartofgp Maintaining the Art of General Practice- how can the arts help doctors learn and maintain the art of General Practice?
Here is a little bit from my workshop.
We set the scene by listening to read the ‘Seven Ages of Man’ from ‘As You Like it’ by Shakespeare.
Maybe you have a picture or poem that depicts the concept of NHS GP care from ‘Cradle to Grave’.
Mine is this painting by Klimt.
We discovered how the arts can be use for:
and heard the poem ‘All those Years at Medical School’ by Roger Bloor, Consultant Psychiatrist
Published in this book
We explored how the arts can educate.
We did this by thinking about the words of Ian McEwan in ‘Atonement’ (migraine), a poem by Julia Darling ‘Too Heavy’ (cancer), a photograph by John William Keedy (anxiety), an excerpt from Ken Loache’s film ‘I, Daniel Blake’ (health inequality), the voice of John Hull reading from his ‘Notes on Blindness’ (visual loss) and the painting by Frida Kahlo, ‘The Wounded Deer’ (illness)
All these resources can be found in the medical sections on this site
Finally we listened Bethovens ‘Ode of Joy’ performed in a flash mob in Sabadell, to remind ourselves that engaging in the creative arts is a positive coping strategy that helps build resilience.
Great to read this comment from one of the trainees attending “I never realised how versatile art can be, thank you for the eye opener.”
The conference closed with a talk from Professor Martin Marshall who demonstrated his pragmatism, good humour and leadership. (I particularly remember him saying that appraisal would become less arduous- so a great end to the day!) Thank you.
Special thanks to our superb GP Trainees Rosie, Alice, Hilary and Emma, and GP TPD colleagues Dom, Lucy, Martin, and Lynda and Admin Support Sue and Sarah.