Poems to help medics burn out in more interesting and reflective ways

By Dr Barney Low

Herein lie a collection of poems written at the burning edge of sanity, often following night shifts in London's many hospitals. It contains the Hippocrates Prize commended poem "GP to Kindly", as well as a cardiac arrest call to a mortuary, the merits of embalming one's toes in resin, the strategies sperm might employ to bypass a mirena coil and novel proposals for improving inhaler adherence.

This collection is a deranged love letter to the profession of medicine and NHS as a whole, touching on all elements of the vibrant Multi-Disciplinary Teams our nation's greatest treasure is lucky enough to still enjoy.

Should Humpty Dumpty have been referred to the neurosurgeons? What would happen if we put tapeworm eggs in inhalers? Who are the 'Feelingologists'? Where is the worst place to get shingles? Can a poem be written about hyponatraemia?

Some of these questions are addressed, in this collection of 65 poems, intended for doctors, nurses, physiotherapists and the myriad of allied health professionals working in communities and hospitals.

They were written by a doctor, battered by the trials of a medical career, who shares some of his mandated reflections. Names and events have been altered, imagined and contrived. Humpty Dumpty was not in fact operated on by horses, consultancy firms have not in fact (to the author's knowledge) suggested paying NHS staff in oxycodone, and no NHS trusts (to the author's knowledge) actually accept referrals for the assessment of the legally dead.

This book does not guarantee positive outcomes for those experiencing burnout, and screaming in a state of significant undress in a place of work is cautioned against.

It is said that laughter is the best medicine.
Physicians: heal thyselves.
Nurses and AHPs: watch with bemusement.

There was no doubt that this poor man was mad, but there is something in the madness of this man which interests me

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0HFX94VM3
• ISBN13: 9798190258332
• Release Date: August 2026
• Publisher: Independently published
• Length: 143 Pages
• Weight: 0.44 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.0" x 0.3" x 6.0"