It was strange going into my first lecture back at the University of Manchester after two years of being away. I have been based in Preston hospital as a Medical Student for years 3 and 4 of my degree, and have now decided to intercalate after my fourth year. This meant moving back to a familiar yet strangely unfamiliar city, and starting a whole new chapter in terms of my studies. I am very excited for what this year is going to bring, as it will allow me to encompass two of my passions in life: medicine and the arts.
Medicine itself is an art, and creativity is an essential part of being a doctor in my opinion. Medical school can sometimes be a rather uncreative environment, and can seem like a conveyer-belt process of churning out doctors who can all take the same patient histories with the same skills with the same knowledge. Yes, these are all incredibly important parts of being a doctor: communication, practical skills and knowledge. However, it can sometimes seem like the creativity and personal humanistic qualities are being slowly squeezed out of us.
My hope for this Medical Humanities course is that I can rekindle my creative side, whilst developing on a personal and professional level. I have no doubts that this year will be a challenge academically, especially as the prospect of writing essays looms ahead: a task I have not had to tackle since GCSE English classes! However, it will be a valuable learning curve which I am certain will be beneficial throughout my future career.
The drawing above represents my idea of the journey of a doctor studying Medical Humanities, i.e. myself. They start off very conventional at the bottom of the stethoscope, but as they go up, they branch out into so many different directions as their thoughts, mind and outlook are broadened by the medical humanities.
Writing this blog post has already sparked a creative light in the fire, and I am excited to fill it with reflections, artwork, music compositions and lyrics.