I’m not going to lie, working some shifts feels exactly like one of those scenes in action films where everything is chaos, the heroes are outnumbered and dramatic music is playing in the background. You muse on just how few comrades seem to be making it out alive (rota gaps, AGAIN?!?), and you develop bonds with those souls stuck with you. Except it’s much smellier and the whole thing lasts 12 hours and you can’t change the channel.

Why is it that although scrubs are basically the same, somehow people seem to wear them so differently? I’d like to say I’ve always worn scrubs that fit, but there have definitely been times when mine were several sizes too big, and barely held up enough to maintain decency. And now that it’s summer, rolling up the sleeves seems to be the fashion in my hospital. Wish I had the arms to carry that off XD

The NHS turns 70 today!

So here’s a lil sketch; it’s a bit rough because I got back from a late shift, but I thought it’d be nice to celebrate.

I’m not saying some of us are distractible, but there are days when it’d probably take no less than a literal god of medicine to get you to revise... It’s just a coffee-induced hallucination, right? RIGHT? So if nothing else motivates you, DON’T DISAPPOINT AESCLEPIUS! HE BELIEVES IN YOU!

Night shifts are surreal experiences; you walk miles and miles of corridor. You flit from cardiac arrests to aggressive patients to patients requesting sleeping tablets at 5am, to confirming that patients who have died are actually, well, dead. With every possible permutation in between. It feels never-ending, and it very possibly is; you lose track of what day it is, what time it is, possibly even what decade it is. When you finally step out into the morning light, you can’t even stand the sunlight any more.

A long time ago, I made a comic about what your choice of stethoscope says about you, but what about the colour you choose? Do brighter colours mean a more carefree personality? Are those with all-black stethoscopes medics the goths among us? Do the rainbow finishes bestow superpowers?

In English: Life is short, and art long, opportunity fleeting, experimentations perilous, and judgment difficult. In Latin: Vita brevis, ars longa, occasio praeceps, experimentum periculosum, iudicium difficile. In original Greek: :Ὁ βίος βραχύς, ἡ δὲ τέχνη μακρή, ὁ δὲ καιρὸς ὀξύς, ἡ δὲ πεῖρα σφαλερή, ἡ δὲ κρίσις χαλεπή.

-Hippocrates Who could better sum up the perils of medicine than Hippocrates? When there’s so much to learn that even a lifetime doesn’t feel enough, when decisions feel like you are walking on a knife edge with no room for error, that’s when this really hits home.

“Wherever the art of Medicine is loved, there is also a love of Humanity.”

- Hippocrates People don’t experience burnout or compassion fatigue because they are weak, but because they work so hard and care so much. It’s a hard balance to maintain, and if you end up needing help or needing to put yourself first, then that’s OK. P.S. please don’t do this to your stethoscope, it’s really bad for the rubber tubing.

We’re back from hiatus! And to start off with, I thought I’d take the chance to celebrate something, someone, special. The NHS turns 70 on the 5th of July 2018, and many trusts and hospitals will be celebrating in their own way. The NHS is the biggest employer in the UK, and the fifth biggest employer in the world; employing between 1.4 and 1.7 million people. It exists because of the hard work put in by a lot of people, often behind the scenes, whch let us do what we do. Many people think of doctors and nurses, but I can only do what I do because others are there to help keep the system runing. I’d like to take this moment to thank everyone who works with us; the porters who help get out patients where we need to be, the lab scientists behind the scenes, the domestics who keep hospitals clean, and the administrators who keep things ticking over.

Continuing on the theme of magical items I wish I had on the wards... I’m not going to lie, my own personal ward bag (in real life) fits a surprising amount of stuff, and might as well be a Bag of Holding. 

Sometimes, don’t you just wish for magical items in real life, when you’re on the wards? Because I do...

Hi, everyone! You might have noticed that I’m posting comics less often (around fortnightly at present). The truth is, between exam revision and oncalls, I’m not getting as much time to create comics as I usually would. I’m still planning to continue, and I’ve definitely got a few stored up whilst I’m in this busy period, but I’ll probably continue to post less often for a little while until things are out of the way. I wouldn’t call it a proper hiatus, I’d rather post less often than stop altogether. I hope to be back to my usual schedule soon :)

'Hope' is the thing with feathers

Emily Dickinson (1830- 1886)

“Hope” is the thing with feathers - That perches in the soul - And sings the tune without the words - And never stops - at all -

And sweetest - in the Gale - is heard - And sore must be the storm - That could abash the little Bird That kept so many warm -

I’ve heard it in the chillest land - And on the strangest Sea - Yet - never - in Extremity, It asked a crumb - of me. With apologies to Ms Dickinson for trying to split 3 stanzas worth of goodness into 4 pictures. When you work in hospital, you deal a lot with hope. Sometimes genuine, sometimes founded on illusion. Sometimes sadly in vain. But here’s to hope, for keeping our patients and their relatives going. And for keeping us doing what we do.

Aaaand… last in this series (for now). When you’re not quite a newbie doctor any more, but you’re still kind of...working things out as you go along. There are some things that almost all of us seem to go through… (feel free to add your own!)

Aaaand… we progress to being a doctor. There are some things that almost all of us seem to go through... (feel free to add your own!)

Aaaand... we progress to the clinical years. There are some things that almost all of us seem to go through in med school. (feel free to add your own!)

There are some things that almost all of us seem to go through in med school. (feel free to add your own!)