Many clinical acts are performances and we should think of that as a strength, not a weakness, writes Roger Kneebone
I think of medicine as a performing art, although to many people the word “performing” sounds suspect, almost insulting. It smacks of inauthenticity, of putting on a mask and presenting something that is not the “real you.” This is a fundamental misunderstanding. Whenever we engage with other people, we select from multiple authentic selves. Whether it is dinner with parents, an evening out with friends, a job interview, or a clinical consultation, we are constantly making choices about how we present ourselves and gauging how those choices are perceived. Within medicine, instead of asking “when are we performing?” clinicians might ask “when are we not performing?”
Theatre, music, dance, and public speaking as with medicine are rooted in a protracted grind of rehearsal, memorisation, and preparation. You spend endless hours in practice rooms and rehears
The sexy, dancing, tattooed, gaming, musical Chris Luke got his freak on at dotMD – and discovered that seeking and maintaining pleasure is an important
Imperial scientists presented the latest innovations in AI, health and zero pollution initiatives to German science leaders. Academics at Imperial gave updates to leaders from the Committee for Culture and Science of the Bavarian State Assembly on some of Imperial’s flagship Academic Strategy Projects as London and Bavaria R&D collaborations continue to grow. I-X: Driving transformation in artificial intelligence, data science and digital technologies