9.24 pm Monday March 20th. A moment of balance -the spring equinox bringing equal sharing of day and night. We could perhaps all do with some moments of balance in our lives just now, especially given the turbulent daily national news.
Whether you have been taking assessments or are preparing for them, this particular season is often one for personal reflection and re-connection to what gives us balance.
Clinically, as I found recently, Schwartz Rounds also give an opportunity for identifying what about a situation we have been part of has disturbed our balance, and for finding balance again through shared reflection. As echoed by our recent graduate Shannon, who has benefited from connecting well to the team around her, we can make the mistake of thinking that it’s just us who are carrying a burden, before realising that the whole team around us are carrying it with us.
I was asked an insightful question at March’s Schwartz Round - how I carried on when the day related to the patient that I was describing was not going well. The answer was that I got through it because one of the nurses quietly, thoughtfully, brought me a cup of tea and a fancy biscuit from the staff stash, before closing my clinic room door for a few minutes. Schwartz emphasises the immense value that such ‘small acts of kindness’ can play in restoring our balance and that of others around us.
With graduation ahead, our Year 5 have also been reflecting on their time together and the journeys yet to come. As wonderfully demonstrated at this week’s fantastic Artefacts musical and by Year 3 at Altcar this week, collaborative teamwork makes the medic.
I have every confidence that when they graduate, our Year 5 will take with them not just the knowledge and skills that they have recently proven admirably at assessment, or the additional connections and prizes linked to many opportunities at Liverpool, but also those attributes so vital to the NHS of superb leadership and teamwork, whether from organising key events and conferences, or making the most of our amazing range of societies. However, above all, when facing what will no doubt be some difficult days to come in the clinical teams around them, I hope that they will have learned the value of those ‘small acts of kindness’.