Poems for doctors
Students and staff are invited to check out a small video kiosk on the ground floor of the Medical School. This is showing sample readings with audio connected to a new online project called Poems for doctors.
Poems for doctors is an online initiative using poetry to create opportunities for medics to recognise some of their own experiences in those of others.
The project is a collaboration between Scottish Poetry Library and the School of Medicine at the University of St Andrews. The project developed out of Tools of the Trade: Poems for new doctors, a small anthology of poems published by Scottish Poetry Library and distributed to graduating doctors. Poems for doctors builds on the book, using a blog to publish short seasons of readings of some of these poems. Video readings are made by medical professionals or trainees who have chosen one poem for particular reasons or associations that they explain. Each reading provides a seed for informal discussion in a Facebook group managed by a group of highly experienced medics.
The intention is to facilitate an online discussion about some of these very human situations, and in doing so to foster a community of encouragement and support.
Find out more and join the Facebook group discussion at