"Profound Courtesy": Literature and Poetry in Medicine.

Medicine is firmly rooted in the sciences and derives much of its great power and influence from these roots. In this paper the author, with a career in clinical medicine, argues that there must also be room in medical practice for literature and poetry. He uses examples to build a case for this inclusion helping both patients and doctors in ways which are not in conflict with science but rather allow a much more complete and compassionate picture of the human interactions that are the essence of medicine. The paper argues that a greater understanding of literature and poetry written both by those inside medicine and those observing medicine from the outside can help in crucial ways to guide and sustain doctors, and thus their patients, when wielding the extraordinary power of scientific medicine.

Paramedics, poetry, and film: health policy and systems research at the intersection of theory, art, and practice.

Violence is a public health issue. It is the consequence of a complex set of interacting political, social, and economic factors firmly rooted in past and current injustice. South Africa remains one of the most unequal countries in the world, and in some areas, the rates of violence are comparable to a country that is at war. Increasingly, paramedics working in high-risk areas of Cape Town are being caught in the crossfire, and in 2018, there was an attack on a paramedic crew nearly every week. These attacks are a symptom of much deeper, complex societal issues. Clearly, we require new approaches to better understand the complexity as we collectively find a way forward. It is in this context that we are collaborating with paramedics, poets, and filmmakers to tell human stories from the frontline thereby bringing the lived experiences of healthcare workers into policy making processes. In this commentary, we share a series of poems and a poetry-film that form part of a larger body of work focused on the safety of paramedics, to catalyze discussion about the possibilities that arts-based methods offer us as we seek to better understand and engage with complex social issues that have a direct impact on the health system.

Utilizing Poetry as Spiritual Care for Hospital Staff.

This personal reflection emphasizes the potential benefits of poetry for interfaith spiritual and pastoral support of medical professionals. Details are provided for the implementation of several successful practices, including an Intensive Care Unit Poetry Basket, Portable Poetry with Aromatherapy Towelette Hand Blessings, and Presenting Poems to Nurse Practice Council. The references include the poetry used in the spiritual care activities and the author also provided a helpful "Further Resources" section.

[Meetings in Petersburg of doctor-poet S. Rudansky and poet-painter T. Shevchenko].

While his studying in the Medical Surgery Academy of Petersburg, engaging himself in literary creation and being a patriot of Ukrainian culture, S. Rudansky might meet Taras Shevchenko in a many literary soirees in which the poet-painter took part. T. Shevchenko read satirical poems by S. Rudansky. While his living in Crimea, S. Rudansky remained fervid propagandist of T. Shevchenko's works, metwith many friends and close friends of the poet-painter.

[John McCrae, physician and poet of "In Flanders Fields"]. / John McCrae, arts en dichter vanIn Flanders Fields.

During the Second Battle at Ypres (1915), the Canadian medical officer John McCrae was situated in an Advanced Dressing Station in Boezinge, Belgium. Heavily influenced by the suffering of the war he wrote the poem "In Flanders Fields" in May 1915. In this poem he writes about the fallen soldiers who will not rest, until others have taken over the torch of the battle. The poem has become particularly well known in the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States. For army administration, soldiers and their families this poem meant a call for more financial support and material goods to win the war. The poppy, which takes centre stage in the poem, became a worldwide symbol of the sacrifice of soldiers on the battlefield, but more recently has itself become the subject of controversy.

[T. Shevchenko in biography of physician, ethnographer and traveller M. Myklukho-Maklai].

The biography of the doctor, N. Miklukho-Maklay, a world scientist, anthropologist, ethnographer and travaller has Ukrainian roots. N. Miklukho-Maklay himself and his father knew and was interested in work of T. Shevchenko. N. Miklukho-Maklay and T. Shevchenko spoke out against colonial policy and social inequality: N. Miklukho-Maklay against racism and T. Shevchenko against the serfdom as a form of slavery.

[Military physician Ie. Rudykovs'kyi as a friend of T. Shevchenko].

The article shows the course of life and occupation in medicine field of the military physician, E. Rudikovsky, who stroke up an acquaintance with Taras Shevchenko in Kyiv in 1843.

Reflections on the use of poetry in nurse education: Speaking a credible language of care.

Based on the experience of using the poem 'The Nurse's Pockets' by Cortney Davis in reflective practice teaching sessions this paper considers the centrality of language as conveyed in poetry as a way of communicating nursing knowledge and experience. Using this poem facilitated a mutual position between the educator and the students that enhanced the reflective practice environment. An argument for using creative arts based approaches in nurse education is presented as a means of overcoming the threats to the unique nature of nursing knowledge evidenced in healthcare and higher education reform.

[Physicians participating in the Crimean War (1853-1856) in the circle of T. H. Shevchenko].

The article considers short historical biographical events on physicians taking part in 1853-1856 Crimean War and who were on friendly terms with the famous Ukrainian poet T. H. Shevchenko.

AVICENNA'S MEDICAL DIDACTIC POEM: URJUZEHTEBBI.

Historical research shows that many physicians experienced in medical sciences are also talented in art, literature and poetry. Avicenna was a sage who was skilled in poetry in addition to philosophy and medicine. He wrote two different types of poetry: those meant to be enjoyed for their literary qualities of novelty and imagination, and his didactic Urjuzeh. Didactic poems are different from poetry evoked by imagination and feeling. In didactic poetry, the poets want to learn science and philosophy, whether spiritual, ethical or practical to the readers. Rhyme and poetry were often used for scientific writing in Avicenna's era, and were considered a method for memorizing scientific information and raising students' interest in difficult scientific concepts. Verse was used to simplify the didactic content, ease memorization and make difficult scientific issues more attractive. In medieval Persia, students of medicine had learned the basics of philosophy before starting medical courses. Poetry could help the students memorize the poem itself in combination with its meaning, in a way that was better and easier than prose. Avicenna's masterpiece, UrjuzehTebbi, comprises a perfect course in traditional Persian medicine in rhyming text written in Arabic. This great work was translated into Persian at the research centre for traditional medicine and history of medicine. We hope that the Persian translation of Urjuzeh Tebbi will allow students and experts to better appreciate the role of didactic poems in compiling and transmitting the concepts of Iranian medicine.

'The chearful haunts': John Armstrong (1709-1779), physician, poet, satirist and leveller of medical knowledge.

John Armstrong, the first honours graduate of the University of Edinburgh School of Medicine, was famous in his day for a lengthy didactic poem entitled The Art of Preserving Health (1744). He is now obscure except to scholars specializing in the 18th century and, when discussed at all, often dismissed as a failed physician who wrote mediocre poetry in a quest for money and fame. A new exegesis by Adam Budd exhumes Armstrong as an original voice who offered timely and reassuring advice to Britons as they braced for another epidemic of plague; who depicted illness through the lens of a vulnerable and sympathetic physician, and who was perhaps above all else a leveller of medical knowledge. Elaborating on Budd's thesis, it would seem that Armstrong, a complicated man, has frequently been misread and was in some ways ahead of his time.