Stitched Up

As medical students we are taught to follow a structure in consultations, and as valuable as it is to have something to fall back on if you need it, it is impertinent to realise it is only guidance. As people, patients will not always conform to the neat order we expect them to talk or act in.

Female healthcare continues to be under-researched and symptoms women present with overlooked. Women face the challenge of having to self-advocate more than male-presenting counterparts. But if they are not empowered enough to speak up, then their pain and suffering gets lost within the consultation.

This drawing is not a complete image, with only parts of the patient drawn - disconnected. Whether you interpret this disconnect to be between the doctor and the patient or within the patient themselves is up to you as the viewer. But I am sure we can agree that the drawing, by not being in entirety, leaves a sense of something being missing or lacking. There is no shortage of suggestions for what might be missing: trust, confidence, lack of judgement. Which is why healthcare professionals need to understand their responsibility in making patients feel comfortable and safe to open up.