Kindness Toward Patients

Author(s):

Patients rely on the companionship and kindness of nurses now more than ever, and these poem selections reflect that.

MENTAL HEALTH MINUTE

Dr Berlin recites poetry that speaks to the relationship between doctor/nurse and a patient, such as Nurse's Pockets by Cortney Davis.

When patients are told they’re dying

they say something simple:

I’ve had a good life or Who will feed my cats?

It seems harder on the doctor-

he waits outside the door, stalling,

until the patient confronts him.

So, Doc, they say, What’s the verdict?

For the rest of Nurse's Pockets, please visit Academic Medicine.