‘Only connect’ … relationships and GP life

[摘要] ‘No man is an island entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main; if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less … ’ wrote the poet John Donne.1 The idea that people are connected in fundamental ways is echoed by EM Forster in the novel Howards End with its infamous epigraph, ‘Only connect’.2 Fans of The House of God author Samuel Shem will also recognise the emphasis on connection throughout his medical and non-medical fiction.3 British GPs also endorse the idea of connecting with others through holistic practice and therapeutic relationships. Theories of relationship-based care have been adopted by the Royal College of General Practitioners.4PERSONAL CONNECTIONS When we think of relationships, it is natural to think of personal and professional relationships with patients and colleagues — a basis of 360-degree feedback in the appraisal of UK doctors (worth reflecting on!).5 Giles Dawnay forecasts the manifest and manifold relationships that circumscribe 21st century general practice.6 Making fast professional relationships is not easy — Tim Senior reflects that establishing a rapport with a patient is like giving a virtuoso recital with music that one has not previously seen.7 Beatrice Khater and Bassem R Saab at the American University of Beirut use the film The Last King of Scotland, set in Idi Amin’s Uganda, to explore the unequal and exploitative relationships initiated through bribery and corruption.8 Nada Khan asks us to consider the multiplicity of professions delivering clinical services in primary care and their relationship to patients and to us.9 But our relationships with work and each other leave us vulnerable to injury, and these injuries can overwhelm us if not addressed. Louise Stone reflects on the awful event of a colleague in distress taking their own life.

[学科分类] 卫生学